'More dominant' - Napoli boss Antonio Conte makes Chelsea claim over Estevao signing | OneFootball

Antonio Conte highlighted the difference in spending power between Napoli and Chelsea ahead of Wednesday's Champions League clash in Italy.

This is obviously an important match for both sides, especially for Conte's Napoli.

Chelsea, who currently sit eighth in the Champions League table, need a win to guarantee a top-eight finish in the league phase and avoid the play-offs.

Napoli, on the other hand, may need a win to even make it to the play-offs.

The Blues should be the favourites, especially considering Napoli's poor form with just one win in their last six games.

In addition to that, Conte also highlighted the gap between the two clubs in terms of flexibility in building their squads.

The Italian, who spent two seasons at Chelsea, during which he won a Premier League and an FA Cup, could not hide his envy when speaking about how the London club could acquire talents like Estevao.

IMAGO / Focus Images

"If you have the opportunity to spend perhaps €120-130m on 22-year-old players..." the Napoli head coach said on Tuesday when speaking about the difference between the two clubs.

"Just think of Caicedo and Fernandez, who were bought for €250m. Everyone can be good with €60m to spend on Estevao...

"I'd like to do the same with my chairman, but only certain clubs can do that. In Italy, no one can.

"In England, there are many teams that can do it. In Spain, Real Madrid also signed Vinicius for €70m when he was 17.

"We need to be honest, there are different realities, and the English one is very different from ours.

"If you build a young team, it becomes even stronger and more dominant over the years."

IMAGO / Sportimage

Napoli's injury problems

Conte also confirmed that Napoli's squad has not changed since their 3-0 defeat to Juventus at the weekend, although he is still hoping that some injured players could make a return.

"There's no news, we are who we were, we should be who we were," he explained.

"When (Frank) Anguissa recovers, which seemed imminent but has been delayed due to a back problem, I have ideas but we need to have the players available.

"Today, we are the same as Juventus, as in previous matches.

"We hope that someone will come out of the infirmary, (Billy) Gilmour, Frank himself, then we don't have any other particular issues, (Amir) Rrahmani is minor, (Matteo) Politano."