Conte's come-and-get-me plea to United revives the same concerns that blocked him in 2021

Antonio Conte has effectively invited Manchester United to come and get him, but the structural problems that led the club to reject him four years ago have not gone away — and were painfully visible in a 4-1 Champions League defeat to Como that has intensified pressure on manager Michael Carrick.

Conte, 57, left Napoli at the end of last season after winning the Serie A title in 2025 and has since been without a club. Speaking to The Athletic, he made his ambitions clear. “There are many clubs that have somewhat lost sight of their history,” he said. “I’d like to go to one of these clubs to dust off that history and make it shine once more. Clubs where there’s pressure, where, ultimately, you know full well that you’re not going there just to take part, but to compete.”

The remarks were widely interpreted as a direct signal to Old Trafford. United are winless in seven matches, and the heavy defeat to Como has accelerated speculation about Carrick’s future, with the manager expected to remain in charge for Sunday’s fixture against Bournemouth.

Yet United’s reservations about Conte date back to November 2021, when the club considered him as a replacement for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. According to the Daily Mail’s reporting at the time, United ultimately decided against pursuing Conte because they believed the squad would struggle to adapt to his micro-managing style. His demand for players to execute instructions immediately and his intense attention to detail were seen as a poor fit for a group that also lacked the on-pitch leaders his system requires.

Conte instead joined Tottenham Hotspur that November, while United turned to Ralf Rangnick as interim manager. The Italian’s record speaks for itself — a Premier League title with Chelsea in 2017, Serie A crowns with Inter Milan in 2021 and Napoli in 2025 — but his methods place heavy demands on squad culture and character.

Five years on, those same concerns appear unresolved. The manner of the Como defeat suggested a squad still short on the leadership and collective discipline that Conte’s system demands. Whether United are willing to revisit that calculation, and whether the squad has changed enough to make it viable, remains the central question hanging over any potential approach.

“If you go to a club where the history speaks for itself — a history made up of trophies, league titles and victories — you can only honour that history in one way: by having the ambition to bring that club back to fight for those goals,” Conte added. The description fits United. Whether United fit Conte is a harder question to answer.