Revealed: How close Antonio Conte came to becoming the Manchester United boss
Antonio Conte becomes new Tottenham boss
On Tuesday, it was announced that Antonio Conte was to take the hotseat in north London, following the dismissal of Nuno Espirito Santo on Monday morning.
✍️ We are delighted to announce the appointment of Antonio Conte as our Head Coach on a contract until the summer of 2023, with an option to extend.
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 2, 2021
Conte had been heavily linked with the Manchester United job, but Daniel Levy and Fabio Paratici pounced first in order to ensure that the Italian ended up at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium instead of Old Trafford, where Ole Gunnar Solskjaer remains in the dugout.
In perhaps a worrying moment of foreshadowing, Conte got his reign underway with a 3-2 win, where they surrendered a 3 goal advantage to win by the barest of margins, just as they did in Jose Mourinho’s first game in charge.
Antonio Conte kicks his Spurs career off with a ! pic.twitter.com/JVp3BbpBQM
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 4, 2021
The Lilywhites faithful will be hoping that his tenure will not end the same way that Mourinho’s did.
How close was Conte to Manchester United?
Now as per Italian Media, as relayed by The Mirror, Conte was desperate for the Manchester United job, and “waited until the last minute” in hope that it became available.
As per Roberto Gotta:
“I understand that there was a wait until the last moment; Manchester United have a better squad and more decisive players,”
The problem, of course, was that the Manchester United hierarchy pledged to keep Solskjaer, leaving Conte in a vain pursuit for the Old Trafford hotseat. As Gotta revealed:
“However, Manchester United have never publicly lacked confidence in Solskjaer. Perhaps even to reassure him…
“Conte in Manchester should have won immediately, while in Tottenham, he should have prepared the team for next season.
“I think he did the right thing, or else he risked not doing half of it.”
Did Conte do the right thing, and will Manchester United regret keeping faith in Ole?
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