Antonio Conte would 'think ten times' before making a decision over whether to return to Juventus as the Serie A club's manager.
The Tottenham manager's contract expires in June and he has been strongly linked with a return to the Bianconeri for some time.
Gianluca Petrachi, a friend and former team-mate of Conte, is also in contention to become the sporting director at Juventus next season.
'He knows the environment and his winning culture and mentality have always made him emerge,' Petrachi told Sportitalia as quoted by Football Italia.
'However, Conte would think 10 times before making such a choice [returning to Juventus]. He is a pragmatic person, and he'd consider the options given by the club, also economically.
'Antonio is a modern coach, he is not part of the past and he proved that last season. He made Inter win after many years, also with important transfer activity.'
Petrachi played with Conte at Italian outfit Lecce in the 1980s and is also a former director of both Roma and Torino.
It's said that he attempted to bring Conte to Roma in 2019, before the manager opted to go to Inter Milan instead.
Conte won the Serie A title with Inter in 2020-2021 before signing an 18-month deal with Tottenham in November 2021 after leaving the San Siro.
Sportsmail reported earlier this week that Tottenham are due to hold further talks with Conte over a new deal.
Conte's current deal expires at the end of this season though Spurs have an option to extend it by 12 months to the summer of 2024.
Initial talks have already taken place about an improved and longer-term agreement and they will now continue.
Spurs went into the World Cup break fourth in the Premier League with Conte also steering them through to the knockout stages of the Champions League where they will face Italians AC Milan in the last-16.
Petrachi meanwhile is one of the candidates to replace Federico Cherubini as Juventus’ sporting director next season.
Cherubini replaced Fabio Paratici in 2021 after the latter became managing director at Tottenham.
However, reports in Italy have suggested he could leave at the end of the season.