Inter director Beppe Marotta said the club contacted Massimiliano Allegri in the summer before contracting Simone Inzaghi as coach.
The Nerazzurri were looking for a replacement for Antonio Conte, who left his post shortly after the end of the season in which the club won their first league title in 11 seasons.
Allegri, who was a free agent, was heavily linked with the role as rumours began to grow that Conte could leave, while Inzaghi was still Lazio coach.
“Before getting Inzaghi, we had contact with Allegri,” Marotta told DAZN. “We never thought Simone would be available, while Max and obviously had an interesting profile so we spoke.
“We called him [Inzaghi] not knowing he was at dinner [with Lazio president Claudio Lotito] and Simone was obviously a little embarrassed.
“I have to say that the timing and intuition by Piero Ausilio and myself were decisive in getting him to find a quick agreement but with respect towards Lotito.
“When a coach or a player stay at a club for too long, as was the case Inzaghi at Lazio, it is right to try something different, an opportunity to grow.”
Inzaghi had been at Lazio as coach since 2016 and enjoyed a successful period as he led the club to two Supercoppa successes as well as 2019 Coppa Italia.
Allegri, who had already managed Milan from 2010 to 2014, had been available since leaving Juve in 2019 before returning to take charge of the club for a second spell at the beginning of the season.
Marotta worked with Allegri at Juve, having brought him to the Turin in 2014.
#Marotta a Dazn: “Prima di #Inzaghi abbiamo avuto un contatto con #Allegri”.
Un anno fa l’#Inter stava per attraversare uno dei momenti più complicati della sua storia recente.
Ecco, quando si valuta questa stagione è giusto ricordarsi da dove si è partiti. https://t.co/D870clei4l
— Fabrizio Biasin (@FBiasin) May 17, 2022
What a lucky escape for Inter not hiring Allegri they would have been a shambles
what a troll lol
I can’t stop laughing!!!!!
Dottore Simone is the correct coach for a soulless club like FC Internazionale Shanghai.
The pipe and slippers coach, master of the back, back, down, down will soon forget about the misery and should not be teaching anything.
Forza Serie A!
Haha yes lucky escape to decline a guy who won the league and cup double 4 times in a row. Inzaghi is never the solution. Thanks for the laugh.
Omicron Max coaching Inter would have been a step down for him. Only Juventus have the genius foresight to hire a coach who was hibernating in a Buddhist Temple for 2 years. The one practicing the further arts of the “Feng Shui” reverse slow ball. Villarreal were the first victims in their 4-1 defeat as well as Juve’s brilliant triumph in their Coppa Italia win in the final they won 4-2 but finished runner up LMAO.
@lordallegri you are so funny indeed … I can’t stop laughing reading your comment
Simeone Inzaghi is a much better choice.
Remember how Allegri and his agent spent the last two years telling us how he rejected everybody! Arsenal, Chelsea, Roma, Real Madrid and now Inter.
This is all so he can come back to Juve.. and build something beautiful and important for the future (his words, not mine).
my lord i wish he had succeeded! And I am in no way alone!
Of course Marotta contacted Allegri, so Agnelli takes the bait and hires him on a long contract LOL.