Conte eyes Van Dijk or Bonucci to shore up Chelsea defence

Liverpool row raises hopes for Dutchman Coach must persuade board over £50m Italian

Antonio Conte has told Chelsea that he wants Leonardo Bonucci or Virgil van Dijk to bolster his team’s defence next season.

Reports from Italy claim that Bonucci may be allowed to leave Juventus, and that Conte is tracking him. Chelsea, meanwhile, remain interested in Van Dijk and could try to take advantage of Southampton’s fall-out with Liverpool.

Bonucci has been a target of Conte since he took over as head coach at Chelsea last year and the Italian has been given encouragement that Juve may be willing to do business. But Conte will need to convince owner Roman Abramovich and the board to break club protocol to sanction a deal worth £50 million and a lucrative longterm contract for a 30-year-old.

Chelsea have a longstanding policy of handing out one-year contracts only to players over the age of 30 who are already at the club, as John Terry and Frank Lampard have discovered.

Van Dijk would be more expensive than Bonucci, but, aged 25, could be seen to provide better value for money, although Southampton insist he is not for sale at any price.

The Dutchman has been urged to go on strike to try to force through a move to Liverpool by the Anfield club’s former striker John Aldridge, which will have further angered Southampton.

Chelsea would be prepared to pay around £50 million for Van Dijk if he made it clear he wanted to go. They have a number of players who could move in the opposite direction as part of any bid for Van Dijk, including Nathan Aké.

Chelsea are confident of securing deals for midfielder Tiemoué Bakayoko and striker Romelu Lukaku, while they are waiting to find out if left-back Alex Sandro will push to join them from Juventus.

The Italian club have confirmed they have received a “substantial offer” for Sandro and chief executive Giuseppe Marotta said: “If a player decides to leave, then, at the end of the day, he has to go.”