According to The Daily Mirror (as relayed by The Express), Antonio Conte personally blocked Tottenham’s pursuit of Phillipe Coutinho.
Coutinho now appears to be on the verge of sealing a return to the Premier League, with Aston Villa expected to sign the former Liverpool man on a loan deal from Barcelona with an option to buy.
However, over the last few weeks, Tottenham were also credited with an interest in snapping up the 29-year-old from Barcelona.
The Brazilian was alleged to be in favour of a move to North London in January, with El Nacional even claiming that Tottenham were prepared to match the salary the midfielder earns at Catalonia.
The Mirror have now explained that while Spurs were in the running for Coutinho before Barca agreed on a deal with Villa, Conte stepped in and prevented the move from happening.
The report states that the Italian went out of the way to block the attacking midfielder from moving to N17.
Spurs Web Opinion
This makes sense as I did not think Coutinho would be a very good fit for Conte’s style of play, given how demanding the Italian is off his players off the ball.
Besides, with Dele, Lo Celso and Ndombele at his disposal, there are likely to be bigger priorities for Conte this month than another attacking midfielder.
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