Tottenham were offered the chance to sign Phillipe Coutinho this month, according to Transfer insider Dean Jones.
The 63-cap Brazil international recently secured a shock move to Aston Villa, which sees his link up with former Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard.
But Jones revealed how Coutinho could have ended up playing under Antonio Conte instead.
What's the latest news with Coutinho?
Following a number of difficult years since leaving Liverpool for Barcelona in a £142m deal, Coutinho has often been linked with a return to the Premier League.
Along with Tottenham, Arsenal have been in the running previously, whilst a return to Liverpool was also mentioned on occasions.
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Despite those attractive propositions, Coutinho wouldn't end up signing for a traditional top-six club, instead, reuniting with Gerrard at Villa Park. Gerrard managed to convince the attacker to sign for Villa on loan until the end of the season, although there's an option to buy included in the deal.
According to reports earlier this month, Tottenham were interested in signing the 29-year-old, but nothing quite materialised and Coutinho ended up settling on a move to Aston Villa.
Jones revealed that he was offered to Antonio Conte but thinks that the Italian is being careful about the type of player he wants to sign, with Coutinho on extortionate wages at Barcelona.
What did Jones say about Coutinho?
He told GIVEMESPORT: "Coutinho, he was offered to Spurs, but he was also offered to half of the Premier League. He was also offered to Spurs in the summer.
"It doesn't surprise me that it didn't happen, Spurs are being very careful about the profile of player they're bringing in right now."
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Do Tottenham need Coutinho?
Tottenham have scored just 23 goals in 18 Premier League games this season, so it's more of a case of they need a creative player rather than Coutinho specifically.
Since Christian Eriksen left for Inter Milan almost two years ago, they've struggled for creativity through the middle, with the likes of Dele Alli, Giovani Lo Celso or Tanguy Ndombele simply not up to the task.
Therefore, Spurs could have done far worse than signing Coutinho this month, but if he isn't the right fit for Conte, the Tottenham faithful need to trust in what the Italian is doing.