Giancarlo Antognoni has explained leaving Fiorentina.

The former director also revealed he came close to signing Inter Milan striker Marcus Thuram for the Viola.

He told Il Corriere della Sera: "They made other choices, for my part I was there and I hope to be there in the future. I was Club Manager and they offered me a place in the youth team. I wanted to stay with the first team and I said no. I don't deny that relations with director Joe Barone were very tense, but obviously I was very shocked by his passing.

"He did things his way and I didn't accept them, which is why I left two years ago. I have always been consistent with myself and it is a choice that I would make again. I don't deny that I would still like to work in the new Viola Park, I haven't been there yet. Often, however, my suggestions were not considered by the other managers and this made me was embittered."

Asked for an example Antognoni continued: "Thuram. Marcus, who is now an added value for Inter, I followed when he played in Germany, at Monchengladbach. He had a price within the parameters of Fiorentina and an obvious talent: however, in the club they said he was 'too young'. You know the rest. C'est la vie, I might say.

"In the nineties, at the time of Cecchi Gori, we needed a defender and we had already signed Lilian, his father, but at the moment Monaco stopped everything. Let's say that with Thuram I wasn't lucky..."