Chelsea were never in the race to sign Alexis Sanchez because they cannot compete financially with Manchester United and Manchester City, according to Antonio Conte.

Sanchez was expected to reunite with former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola at City but, after interest from Chelsea was cooled by Conte, he moved to United in a swap deal that sent Henrikh Mkhitaryan to Arsenal.

It is believed City backed out of a move for the Chile international due to concerns over the financial package, with the Red Devils reportedly agreeing to pay him £300,000 a week.

Conte said such figures meant Chelsea, bankrolled by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, did not get close to beating either of the Manchester clubs in the race for Sanchez’s signature.