Roma head coach Jose Mourinho had been hoping to return to Inter during the summer of 2019, but Nerazzurri CEO Beppe Marotta had always made his choice in the form of Antonio Conte.
This according to today’s print edition of Turin-based newspaper Tuttosport, who report that the Portuguese had put his name in the running to replace Luciano Spalletti as Nerazzurri coach.
Mourinho enjoyed one of his most successful spells in charge at any club in his two seasons with Inter, winning the Serie A title in his first campaign in charge before winning the European treble in his second.
The feeling remained positive between the coach and his former club even after he left immediately after securing that treble to join Real Madrid.
Midway through the 2018-19 season, Mourinho was sacked by his then-club, and as he considered his future he understood that Spalletti and Inter were all but certain to part ways at the end of that season.
The coach thought about the possibility of a return to the Giuseppe Meazza as a way to reignite his coaching career, and made no secret of this fact to the club.
However, Marotta had his heart set on bringing in Conte to start a winning project at the Nerazzurri, the same coach who he had appointed at Juventus in the summer of 2011 to set the Bianconeri on their own long winning cycle.
Conte did manage to win Inter the Serie A title in his second season in charge, whilst Mourinho ended up joining Tottenham Hotspur to replace Mauricio Pocchetino before joining the Giallorossi last summer.
However, things could have gone much differently had the club decided to respond to the interest of Mourinho in re-joining instead of betting on Conte at Marotta’s insistence.
