Now we know why Manchester United overlooked Antonio Conte. He was too good for a squad assembled at a cost of £877million. Too precise, too demanding, too ambitious.
‘If Conte tells a player to do six things, then he wants to see them do all six immediately,’ explained an executive at Old Trafford. It is almost as if he’s in a hurry, as if there is a finite end to a campaign or competition, as if there is a day on which, if Manchester United are not inside the top four, roughly £50m goes down the tubes.