Antonio Conte has confirmed Chelsea wanted to sign Virgil van Dijk before he joined Liverpool.
The Holland international became the most expensive defender in football after sealing his move to Anfield from Southampton in a deal worth £75 million.
Several other Premier League clubs had been in the hunt for Van Dijk, with Manchester City and the Londoners both credited with interest.
However Chelsea’s refusal to pay more than £50m for the commanding centre-back is understood to have been a key factor in their failed pursuit of him.
“This is football. This is life,” said Conte.
“For sure he was our target but as you know this is football. We can have a lot of targets but you must be able to reach those targets.
“The transfer market is not simple for any club.”
He added: “But Liverpool bought Van Dijk to reinforce his defensive line, and I think Van Dijk is a top defender – and they spent [75] million euro for this player.
“[At] the same time, they sold very well Coutinho (to Barcelona) because when you sell a player for this amount of money, and then you have the rest of money to invest, to improve your team.
“But I think the transfer market is not simple, it’s not simple, especially if there is this amount of money.
“It’s not simple, and Arsenal, I don’t know what happen but, I repeat, the best way to look at ourselves, to try to find the best solution for us is don’t look the other.
“But I have great respect for the other teams, from the other managers, because behind every operation there is a programme, is a plan and I have great respect for every manager, ever team.”