Juventus forward Paulo Dybala has explained how close he came to joining Tottenham or Manchester United last summer.
Spurs agreed a fee for Dybala on deadline-day last summer, only for the player's complicated image rights to see a deal fall through.
United the previous week also failed with negotiations despite Juventus deciding Dybala was up for sale.
"It was more or less last year at this point when Juventus didn't want to count on me, didn't want me to continue playing here," Dybala told CNN.
"That's when I was contacted and there were some clubs that were interested in me. Among those were Manchester United and Tottenham. I think for a long time there were conversations, then Paris Saint-Germain also appeared.
"I did not speak directly to any of them, but there were conversations with the clubs. However, my intention at the time was to stay.
"I hadn't had a good year or a positive last six months, so I didn't want to leave with that image because I think I had given the club a lot of nice moments and it wasn't fair that I went like this.
"So I also communicated that my intention was to stay, work to grow and give my best here."
Dybala has worked his way back into Maurizio Sarri's plans, making 34 appearances before the season was halted.
He continued: "Obviously it was not easy because Juventus' intentions were different, but after the market closed, there was no more time and with the arrival of Sarri I grew a lot.
"The team started playing football much better and that made me stay and have had a great year until today."
