Massimiliano Allegri has revealed that he almost became the new manager of Real Madrid last summer.
Having remained without a club for two years, Allegri was on the market as several big clubs contemplated their approach to their 2021-22 campaign.
Allegri eventually returned to Turin, where he had previously won five successive Serie A titles, but it appears that the 54-year-old's career could have taken a different path.
At the same time, Real Madrid were looking for a replacement for Zinedine Zidane, Allegri claiming that he had agreed to move to the Santiago Bernabeu before receiving a call from his former club.
Speaking to GQ Hype, Allegri said: "I had already signed an agreement with Real Madrid, but then, in the morning, I called the president [Florentino Perez] and told him that I would not go because I had chosen Juventus.
"He thanked me for my words. Since Juventus called me in May, I had no doubts. On a professional level it would have been the culmination of a journey, of course: AC Milan, Juventus and then Real Madrid."
Allegri has since endured a mixed first campaign back at Juventus, the club already out of contention for the Serie A title and having been eliminated from the Champions League at the quarter-final stage.
Darren Plant
