Antonio Conte continues policy of not commenting on other teams' players with Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez

It's been a while since Antonio Conte has had to address rumors about potential transfer targets, but as we should recall from the summer transfer window, his go-to answer to just about each and every incoming rumor is to basically say that he doesn't talk about incoming transfer rumors.  It's a respect thing, right Bob?

So here's Antonio Conte not talking about the Alexis Sanchez rumor when asked about the Alexis Sanchez rumor at Friday's press conference.

"I don't think it's right to talk about other players of other teams. It's not right."

"But now we are totally focused on the next game against West Bromwich. January or next season are very far (away) for us, but it's not right to talk about the players of other teams. It's a lack of respect for their players, their clubs, my team and my club."

The other line that Conte often repeated in the summer was that we wait for the right targets and not buy for the sake of buying.  Alexis Sanchez isn't likely to fall into the latter category, though of course this is all just idle speculation at this point, driven by the echoes of tabloids and Arsenal playing hardball already with their biggest stars.

For Conte, just as when the big rumors of the next Abramovich-financed buying spree were breaking in September, the focus is on the current squad and the current task at hand.

"As I said before, now it's important to be focused on the next game against West Brom. Then we'll have four games before January. It's important to be focused on this game. January is far away for me."

-Antonio Conte; source: Evening Standard