Antonio Conte tells Juventus Nemanja Matic is not for sale and says Chelsea star is 'very important in my idea of football'

Antonio Conte has warned his former club Juventus to keep their hands off Nemanja Matic.

The Italian champions have earmarked Serbian midfielder Matic as their ideal replacement for Paul Pogba who is destined to leave Turin for Manchester United for a record fee of more than £100million.

Conte said: 'Nemanja Matic is very important player for me and he is very important in my idea of football. He knows this and I have been delighted by his attitude and behaviour. I see his commitment.

'I know with work he can become a fantastic midfielder, one of the best in the world. He is not for sale.'

The Chelsea manager also expressed his concerns about the astronomical fees being paid for players like Pogba and Gonzalo Higuain, who is moving from Napoli to Juventus for £75m.

'We are seeing a crazy market,' said Conte. 'It's incredible. When you go for a player it's very difficult because you must pay a lot of money. I don't know if the situation can continue.

'It's very difficult for all the teams to try and buy the players when we are talking about £100m, £120m, £95m, and these prices are incredible. This is football now.

'It's important that we must maintain the passion. This is the most important thing is passion and to transfer our passion to fans and players.

'The money is important but it is not everything. It is important for the clubs to reach the right targets not to spend because we want to spend money.

'It's right to take the player and adapt to our idea of football.'