Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani targeted Antonio Conte, Claudio Ranieri and Roberto Martinez before appointing Marcelo Bielsa as manager this summer.

Bielsa has led Leeds to a 100 per cent start to the season, becoming the first manager in the club's history to win his first four games in all competitions.

But Radrizzani, who took complete control of Leeds in May 2017, has revealed he would have splashed the cash to bring in now former Chelsea boss Conte and that he also spoke to title winner Ranieri about the role.

Former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte was targeted by Leeds, their owner has revealed

'Conte [was on the list] and with him, we would have been certain of promotion to the Premier League,' Radrizzani told Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport. 'I would even have offered him €20million (£17.9m).

'Then I interviewed [Claudio] Ranieri who was attracted by our interest, but declined as he was waiting for a call from a top-flight club. I even spoke to [Roberto] Martinez, but Belgium were an obstacle.'

Eventually Leeds and Radrizzani moved for former Argentina and Chile manager Bielsa after initially believing it would not be possible to bring him to Elland Road.

Praising the 63-year-old, the Italian even suggested Bielsa is the team's most important player.

Leeds forward Kemar Roofe embraces Marcelo Bielsa during the win over Rotherham

Radrizzani added: 'At the end of May, I spoke with our director of football [Victor] Orta and he said Bielsa would be ideal, but that it would be impossible [to get him]. Those words just motivated me even more and we negotiated for a few days then reached an agreement at £3m, which he shares with his staff, and a one year plus one year option as duration.

'We finished negotiations after 10 hours of conversation in Buenos Aires. He'd studied 20 of our games and already knew all the players, including the youngsters.

'It seemed impossible to get him here, but he's our top player. We are a Premier League club, and even more so with him.'