Apparently Zinedine Zidane was not the obvious choice to replace Rafa Benitez at Real Madrid that everyone once thought. Italy manager Antonio Conte was on that list as well and turned down the position to continue managing his home country through Euro 2016.
According to the Metro, Conte turned down an offer from Real Madrid in January to take over for the fired Rafa Benitez. The Italy boss who won previously three straight Serie A titles with Juventus has since been linked with a move to Chelsea and is expected to take over the club in the 2016-17 season.
Real Madrid fired Benitez after falling to third place on the La Liga table and drawing against Valencia on the heels of a bitter 4-0 loss to Barcelona earlier in the year. Hours after Benitez was ousted, the La Liga giants announced that Zinedine Zidane would take over as permanent manager.
Conte is expected to retain his position with Italy through the end of Euro 2016 and join Chelsea afterwards.
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