Italian football pundit Pasquale Bruno has claimed that Antonio Conte turned down an approach from Newcastle United before accepting the Tottenham Hotspur job.
Conte was confirmed as the new Spurs head coach yesterday, with the Italian putting pen to paper on a contract until 2023 with an option of an extension.
There is plenty of excitement among Tottenham fans at the 52-year-old’s appointment given the impressive CV he arrives in North London with.
Conte was also linked to the Manchester United job last week when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came under pressure following United’s 5-0 loss to Liverpool.
Fabrizio Romano revealed on Tuesday that the former Inter Milan boss was prepared to wait for the Red Devils to come calling before Fabio Paratici changed his mind and convinced him to come to Spurs.
Bruno has now claimed that Conte was indeed open to a move to Old Trafford but revealed he was not as keen on the idea of moving to St James’ Park.
The former Juventus defender told Tiki Taka (as relayed by FC Inter 1908): “I spoke to him (Conte) a week ago: some friends of mine close to Newcastle had asked Antonio if he was available.
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“He obviously said no because they are second to last, and there is a whole programme to build: United would have been very welcome.
“He turned down Tottenham in August, but he wants to come back and coach again.”
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While it is possible that Spurs have promised a bigger transfer kitty to Conte than they did during their talks with the Italian in the summer, I also suspect that perhaps the 52-year-old himself had a change of heart as he realised that his options were much more limited than he thought they would be a few months ago.
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