Sacked Chelsea boss Antonio Conte turned down the Real Madrid job this summer, it has been revealed.

The Mirror says he was so determined to wait to be axed and paid off that he turned down a summer approach from Real Madrid.

The Blues took a big step towards resolving their managerial uncertainty by firing 2016-17 title winner Conte after he took training at Cobham for the final time on Thursday morning before saying his goodbyes to players and staff.

Conte is due up to £9million and wants it in one lump sum, but Chelsea's policy is to continue paying sacked managers' salary for up to a year until they find another job. Either way, the former Juventus and Italy boss knew he would be in the money if the Londoners pulled the trigger so refused to resign.

Had he quit and taken another gig, it would have eased the cost of Chelsea's latest managerial change.