Legendary former Inter goalkeeper Walter Zenga has revealed that he has come close to being appointed head coach of the Nerazzurri in the past.

Speaking to Italian broadcaster Sky Sport Italia, the 61-year-old revealed that he came close to taking charge of his former club on two occasions last decade but in the end did not.

Zenga spent more than a decade as the Nerazzurri’s goalkeeper, between 1982 and 1994, and the former keeper later entered a career in management, having coached a number of teams over the past two seasons.

Among the clubs which the former Nerazzurri legend has been on the bench for are Sampdoria, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Crotone, and Cagliari.

However, he has revealed that he could also have been in the position at Inter during a wide-ranging conversation about the Nerazzurri with Sky.

The 61-year-old gave his reaction to Inter’s 6-1 rout of Bologna at the San Siro yesterday, stating that “The snapshot of the match is Inter’s first goal. Bologna were very high up the pitch and Inter found acres of space.”

“Mihajlovic’s Bologna have very attacking principles,” he explained, “today the goals Inter scored from open play all came from a counter. Last year Inter were building out from the back, this year Inzaghi keeps them very direct.”

“There are different little situations that each coach gives to his team. This year I think Inter are focusing a little more on quality. We are all talking about Hakimi and Lukaku, but we forget that Inter have lost Eriksen as well.”

Zenga spoke about times he almost returned to his club, first as a player, stating that “I was close to returning to Inter as Pagliuca’s deputy. What Buffon did, I wanted to do in 1997. I’m honest and have no filters, I also spoke with Gianluca, but Hodgson got in the way. I don’t know why.”

And on coaching he said, “Being able to coach your beloved team is not a right that you acquire because you were an icon, but you must deserve it. Evidently my path had never been such as to convince the managers. But I was close twice, when they parted with Mazzari, and when Benitez left and then Leonardo arrived.”