Antonio Conte has moved to cool speculation over an immediate return to management, insisting he is not in advanced negotiations with any club despite renewed talk linking him with a move to Manchester United.

The 57-year-old has been out of work since leaving Napoli by mutual consent at the end of last season, having guided them to the Serie A title in 2024-25. His availability has naturally attracted attention, but Conte used a statement on Friday to set out his position clearly.

He wrote that there are “currently no negotiations at an advanced stage.” Conte also said he intends to “take the time to consider how and when to return to management,” adding that any comeback will only happen when the “conditions are right.”

He went on to reject reports about his supposed financial terms and demands for control. Conte said: “I have read reports of financial demands and requests for full control that I have supposedly already made to the clubs mentioned, as well as reservations about what has been described as my ‘strong personality.’ These reports are unfounded.

“Should a concrete opportunity arise, that will be the time to hold discussions with the club concerned and jointly consider the terms of a potential agreement, with due regard for both parties’ needs and the qualities and approach that define my work as a manager.”

Conte added that any “assumptions” about his “demands and professional future” are exactly that for now and “cannot be treated as fact.”

The broader conversation around him is unlikely to stop there. Manchester United have been warned that Conte can deliver results, but that his methods can be demanding. He is also seen as more of a short-term solution than a long-range planner, usually spending no more than two full seasons at a club. Juventus remains the lone exception over the past 20 years.

His last spell in the Premier League, at Tottenham Hotspur between Nov. 2, 2021 and March 26, 2023, ended in turmoil after he labelled his own players “selfish” following a poor result against Southampton, then bottom of the table. “We are 11 players that go into the pitch. I see selfish players. I see players that don’t want to help each other and don’t put their heart [into it],” he said at the time.

Former Manchester United captain Ashley Young has urged caution over any attempt to bring in Antonio Conte as a replacement for Michael Carrick, branding such a move a “disaster.”

Conte is available after leaving Napoli by mutual consent in May, and his trophy record is as strong as any. The Italian won five Serie A championships as a player with Juventus, then added five more as a manager with Juventus, Inter Milan and Napoli, while also guiding Chelsea to the Premier League title.

Young, who spent just shy of nine years at Old Trafford before 18 months working under Conte at Inter, believes the fit would be wrong for Manchester United at this point. His view comes as pressure continues to build around Carrick, even if the hierarchy are still thought to support him.

Wednesday night’s defeat to Como was another heavy blow. It was Manchester United’s second-worst loss in the Champions League era and extended a winless run to seven matches, a sequence that sits awkwardly alongside the strong finish Carrick produced in his interim spell last season. On that run, the team collected more points from their final 17 games than champions Arsenal.

After the final whistle in northern Italy, Carrick walked straight to the corner of the stadium where the travelling supporters were gathered and apologised for what had taken place. He then turned his attention to the players and did not spare them, saying: “If you don’t run and you don’t run forward and you don’t run back, you ain’t going to win.”

Young’s doubts about Conte are rooted in the demands of his methods. Speaking on The Overlap Daily show, he said: “He is crazy,” and then described the intensity that often comes with the Italian’s approach.

“[Conte] is a bit like Diego Simeone on the sidelines. You hear him non-stop,” Young said. “Training is intense, there’s a lot of running. There was a lot that he did. The training sessions were a lot of 11 vs. 11, at times a little bit boring.

“Meetings were long. If we lost a game, we could go into a meeting and stop literally everything [else]. You could be in there three or four hours. I think that’s one of the reasons why he doesn’t last long at places because, not just the players, the board he tries to test mentally. I think people get annoyed at him and they’re like, no it’s time for you to go.”

Mikel Arteta has revealed that Arsenal’s summer work was deliberately made awkward, with the manager using preseason to prepare his squad for the kind of disruptions that can unsettle a title challenge.

The Arsenal boss said he wanted players and staff to face unexpected problems before the Premier League season began, so they would be better equipped when those situations arrived for real. He pointed to the long flight delay that affected preparations for Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Napoli as the sort of issue he has tried to rehearse.

“I love those challenges,” Arteta laughed. “I try to create them in preseason. So when they happen, we already experience them and we already know. So, get to the stadium very late, change the routine as soon as the players have to do something else.

“Because when it happens, and it can happen, you can miss the flight, the train can be delayed, there’s so much traffic, and I don’t want the players-but not only the players, the staff as well-panicking. So, when that happens, adapt to it.

“O.K., we have another two or three hours on the plane, how can we use them? Play together, spend some time together, sleep, use it, but certainly don’t complain and then use it as an excuse because that’s not helpful at all.”

Asked whether he had been involved in delaying Arsenal’s travel, Arteta joked: “We can’t get that done yet, but just delaying the meals, delaying the transport, taking a different route … we’ve done many things: made the dressing room hotter, more difficult, more challenging, less beds. Those kind of things.”

He added that the aim is to help the squad cope with different matchday conditions rather than be rattled by them.

Arteta’s methods have often drawn mockery, but he will feel justified after leading Arsenal to Premier League glory last season. During that title run, he brought a dog named “Win” to training and later joked that its name had been changed to “Won.”

He also used a pickpocket disguised as a waiter at a team event, had players handle a lightbulb to underline energy and connectivity, and asked the squad to squeeze lemons to show there was always more to give.