Antonio Conte has lifted the lid on why he turned down the chance to manage Tottenham Hotspur in the summer.
The new manager comes in to replace Nuno Espirito Santo after just 10 Premier League games, having been interviewed for the role before Santo was given the job.
Conte was strongly rumoured to have been unhappy with the transfer budget at Tottenham and was said to have been too expensive to please. Recently, reports suggested that Manchester United could not hire the former Chelsea boss either, due to his significant wage demands.
In a recent interview, however, the Italian has quashed such claims and said that he simply didn't want to jump into coaching quite so soon after leaving Inter Milan.
“Last summer our union did not happen because the end of my relationship with Inter was still too recent and emotionally too involved with the end of the season,” said Conte on Tuesday. “So I felt that it wasn’t yet the right time to return to coaching.
“But the contagious enthusiasm and determination of Daniel Levy in wanting to entrust me with this task had already hit the mark.
“Now that the opportunity has returned, I have chosen to take it with great conviction.”
Tottenham take on Vitesse in the Europa Conference League in Conte's first game in charge this Thursday.
