Antonio Conte has told Chelsea not to sell Juan Cuadrado to Juventus and wants to make the Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan one of his first signings when, as expected, he takes over the club in the summer.

The Italy manager has agreed to replace Guus Hiddink at Stamford Bridge after the European Championship and, barring an unforeseen change of heart from either side, will begin work at the Premier League club in July.

The 46-year-old has already given the club a list of players he would like to sign but top of the manager’s wishlist is the retention of a player who has not yet been able to make his mark at the club.

Cuadrado, who has suggested in the recent past that he would prefer to remain in Italy rather than return to London, joined Chelsea in the 2015 January transfer window in a £23.3m deal from Fiorentina but looked far from comfortable under José Mourinho, making 14 appearances but starting only four of them and scoring no goals. Last summer, he was loaned out to Juventus, where he has recaptured his form and has played a huge part in the Bianconeri’s resurgence to go back to the top of the league after an indifferent start.

Conte, in fact, was keen to sign the 27-year-old when he was in charge of the Turin club but was unable to do so and that was one of the reasons he left at the end of the 2013-14 season, despite having won three consecutive Serie A titles.

Juventus are desperate to sign Cuadrado on a permanent deal but there is no buy-out clause in the contract that took the Colombian on loan to Italy, so Juve will be unable to sign him on a permanent transfer if Chelsea decide to keep him.

Conte, meanwhile, is keen to sign Nainggolan to reinforce a Chelsea midfield that has been overrun on several occasions this season, with title-winning players such as Cesc Fàbregas, Oscar and Nemanja Matic losing their form. The 27-year-old Belgian has been one of Roma’s best players for several years and has a contract until 2020. The Serie A club are likely to ask for up to £28m for the player who joined for £5m from Cagliari in 2014.

The situation is complicated by the uncertainty over the sporting director role at Roma after Walter Sabatini announced that he will leave in the summer. A decision on whether Nainggolan will be sold is unlikely to be taken until a successor is appointed. Sabatini, meanwhile, has been strongly linked with a role at Chelsea.

Conte has this week been preparing his Italy squad for the game against Spain on Thursday night as the Azzurri continue their buildup to the Euro 2016 tournament in France in the summer.

Asked whether he would move to Chelsea in the summer, he said: “For me, it’s not a taboo subject, I can also speak about Italian clubs, too. I will consider the choices on offer, whether in Italy or abroad. The only thing I can confirm is that I’m not going to go to another national team as I miss club management.”