Antonio Conte responds to Jamie Vardy speculation

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has stressed that his side were never in the running to sign Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy in the summer.

The England international was strong tipped to join the Blues before the transfer deadline in August, but the Blues ultimately never made a formal approach.

Speaking ahead of the Leicester game, Conte assured that the Blues had not made any approach for Vardy, though he admits that the Englishman is a really good player.

He said, via ESPN: "For sure Vardy is a really good player and I don't like to speak about players of other teams," the Italian told reporters at a press conference.

"But in this case, we are not talking about the transfer market. No, honestly we didn't speak about him. But I repeat we are talking about a really good player."

Chelsea host Leicester City in the Premier League this afternoon, and they will be aiming to secure first victory of 2018 in order to maintain their top-four spot.

The Blues are currently separated from fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur by five points, and they can not rest on their laurels, given their tough fixture list across all competitions.

Chelsea have a testing League Cup semi-final second-leg versus Arsenal on Wednesday night, and Conte will hope that his side finish their business early versus the Foxes to make a couple of prior substitutions.