Antonio Conte admits Chelsea can no longer compete with Manchester City and Manchester United in the transfer market and will have to work even harder to pip them to silverware.

While the Blues looked at acquiring the likes of Andy Carroll and Peter Crouch before pushing for Edin Dzeko to strengthen their frontline this month, United agreed a deal with Alexis Sanchez worth up to £500,000-a-week to prise him from Arsenal and Henrikh Mkhitaryan going the other way.

Since Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho took over at City and United in the summer of 2016, they have spent £365.85m and £291.3m on players respectively.

Chelsea have paid out £325m following Conte's arrival, but have raised a fortune in player departures and loans. Their latest financial accounts ending June 2017 showed they made a profit on player trading for the year of £69.2m - and yet still won the league title.

Chelsea trail both Manchester clubs in the Premier League and when asked if their rivals' spending power is leaving his team behind, Conte replied: “I think, for sure, in this moment there are two teams in this League who are 'top'. They stay there.

"The others have to fight. To fight for a place in the Champions League. Last season I think we did a fantastic job and did a little miracle. I repeat, this season is showing this.

"What happened (at Chelsea) three years, 10 years or eight years ago was totally different. Now I think that we have to fight. We have to fight with our work.

"Last season we won the League and finished with £50m plus. No-one says this. We won the League and reached the FA Cup final and we finished with a profit in the transfer market. In the past, this had never happened.

"For this reason, the situation changed. When the situation changes, you have to fight to try to give all of yourself for Chelsea. Now, for sure, United and Manchester City stay there, stay there.

In Pictures | Alexis Sanchez joins Manchester United | 22/01/2018 6 show all In Pictures | Alexis Sanchez joins Manchester United | 22/01/2018 1/6 Man Utd via Getty Images 2/6 Man Utd via Getty Images 3/6 Man Utd via Getty Images 4/6 Man Utd via Getty Images 5/6 Man Utd via Getty Images 6/6 Man Utd via Getty Images 1/6 Man Utd via Getty Images 2/6 Man Utd via Getty Images 3/6 Man Utd via Getty Images 4/6 Man Utd via Getty Images 5/6 Man Utd via Getty Images 6/6 Man Utd via Getty Images

"We have to try and build something important to create a basis and then make success with our work. Not with money. With work.

"Don't forget, in the last couple of years, we lost a lot of old players who wrote the history of this club. There is, I don't like this word, 'transition', but sometimes you have to stop yourself and see the truth.”

​Conte wanted to bring Sanchez to Stamford Bridge himself, but says it was never a realistic possibility.

He added: “We never were in this race. Ever. Especially because, I repeat, one of the reasons was this amount of salary. Only one or two clubs can pay this type of salary. Also, if you want a player, you are faced with this reality.

"Now it's not simple to think about doing this [finishing above them] because these big teams continue to improve and invest a lot of money.

"Then if you continue to have this type of gap, it's not only here in England, these two big clubs can become seriously dangerous for other teams in the world. These two teams are very strong already and want to invest.

"I think when you go in the transfer market you have to know that, if you want the best, you have to spend a lot of money. Otherwise you have to go in the middle and spend £20-30m."

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Chelsea have shown during the Roman Abramovich era that they will sack managers if they don't add trophies to the cabinet.

Conte is expected to leave at the end of the current campaign regardless, but he maintains that his ability as a coach could Chelsea help bridge the gap in future.

“The first thing is I trust in my work," he said. "And I think that, if I stay here, for this reason, it'll be because the club trusts in my work. And not only the money.

"You can do two types of football: only with money and you pay a lot of money and take the best players; the other way is to try and put a bit of money in and then hard work.

"We are in the middle. We are working and trying to do our best during the transfer market.”