Antonio Conte 'agrees three-year deal' with European giants to make return to management

Antonio Conte has reportedly agreed a three-year deal to take charge of reigning Serie A champions Napoli - over 14 months after leaving Tottenham.

The Italian has been out of work since leaving his role at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and revealed that he had turned down offers from the Saudi Pro League.

He was linked with the Chelsea job, with reports from Italy claiming that the Blues had been in contact with their former manager prior to Mauricio Pochettino's departure.

But Fabrizio Romano is now reporting that Conte has agreed personal terms to take over at Napoli, who have endured a nightmare title defence in Serie A.

Their reign over Serie A will end in a matter of days, with Inter Milan having won the Scudetto this time around by a staggering 19 points ahead of AC Milan.

The Italian giants have gone through three permanent managers on their way to finishing 10th in Italy's top division, with current boss Francesco Calzona having won just three of his 16 games.

Calzona, who had previously never managed a Serie A club before Napoli and is also the head coach of Slovakia, replaced ex-Watford boss Walter Mazzarri.

Their previous manager was Rudi Garcia, who lasted just three months into the season before being sacked in November.

Napoli are now placing their trust in a manager who is something of a title specialist, with Conte winning Serie A four times and the Premier League once during his managerial career.

Speaking in February in an interview with The Telegraph, the Italian explained what he wanted to achieve with his next club.

He said: "If the final target is to win the league and lift trophies, it's important to offer entertainment to the crowd.

"But to be only an entertaining team is not enough if you want to win. I know because I coached the top teams and they always asked to win.

"For me, now it's impossible to work for an only entertainment team, because the expectation is always that you have to win.

"I love my past, but at the same time the expectation you bring is always very high and if you don't win, you have failed. The best possible option is to entertain and win."

More to follow...

This is a breaking news story from the team at SPORTbible and will be updated in due course. In the meantime, please follow us on our various social channels for the latest information on this story. You can find the latest SPORT news on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Stay tuned for the latest and follow all the latest developments below.