Newcastle United’s new owners tried to bring recently-appointed Tottenham manager Antonio Conte to St James’ Park before landing Eddie Howe, according to The Athletic.

The Lowdown: Conte’s Tottenham U-turn

The Italian was also wanted by Tottenham over the summer, but he turned down the chance to move to north London prior to the 2021/22 campaign.

As we know, Daniel Levy and Fabio Paratici ended up with Nuno Espirito Santo, who they sacked after less than five months in charge.

Conte, who has been described as ‘outstanding’ by Pep Guardiola and boasts five league titles to his name across two countries, then had a U-turn on the position at Spurs and officially joined the club earlier this month. However, it appears as if he was wanted elsewhere in England while Nuno was still in charge of Tottenham.

The Latest: The Athletic’s claim

The Athletic shared a story regarding Newcastle’s swoop for Howe on Tuesday morning.

Within their report, they suggested that the Magpies’ new owners courted Conte, along with former Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino, before failing in a move for Unai Emery, which eventually led to a swoop for Howe.

The Verdict: Spurs counting their lucky stars

It seemed as if Spurs missed the boat when it came to bringing in Conte over the summer, so they’ll be thankful that the Italian had a change of thought regarding a move to north London and the fact that he didn’t relocate to Newcastle following an approach.

Conte was also looking at a possible move to Manchester United, but Spurs’ defeat to the Red Devils at the end of October meant that Nuno was sacked and Tottenham had a vacancy before the Manchester club, where Ole Gunnar Solskjaer remains in charge but under pressure.

Things could have played out differently for both Spurs and Conte, so you’d expect that Tottenham are very thankful that they have the 52-year-old in charge instead of coming up against him with Newcastle.

In other news: 'The real winner' of Conte's appointment will still be sold in Spurs clearout, pundit predicts