Gary Lineker planned to leave the BBC for its biggest rival, only to discover that ITV was not interested, it is understood.
The Daily Mail has been told that a representative for the Match of the Day presenter made overtures to ITV over the past 18 months.
Sources have indicated that the talks were aimed at sounding out whether they wanted the former England player as a sports presenter, given that his current contract with the Corporation expires next summer.
The move to ITV would suggest Lineker’s apparent willingness to jump ship and leave the BBC, where he is the top earner on £1.35m a year and has presented Premier League highlights since 1999.
His agent, Jon Holmes, has dismissed the claims as “nonsense” and insisted that ITV had in fact been interested in signing Lineker “years ago” but the presenter turned them down.
Gary Lineker presented Euro 2024 coverage earlier this month for the BBC
Lineker, famous for his appearances in the Walkers adverts, is said to have planned to leave the BBC for ITV.
Gary Lineker’s agent has rejected claims that Lineker tried to persuade him to move to ITV, describing them as “rubbish”.
Gary Lineker has taken on other presenting jobs outside of sport for ITV – he hosted quiz show Sitting on a Fortune before it was cancelled.
Lineker has presented Match of the Day, as well as other major football coverage, for the BBC since 1999.
Gary Lineker’s contract with the BBC is due to expire next summer and the presenter is said to be exploring his options.
Pressed on the claim that she had entered into separate discussions in the past 18 months, Holmes referred to Lineker’s work at ITV outside of sport in that time period, which included hosting the game show Sitting on a Fortune between 2021 and July 2023, when it was cancelled.
But the Daily Mail understands the matters are unrelated and the approach was intended to take a prominent position in ITV’s sports coverage.
The revelation comes during a turbulent period for Lineker, 63.
The BBC suspended him for three days last year after he posted on social media that the Conservative government’s language around its asylum policy was “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s”.
At the height of that row over impartiality, several of Lineker’s colleagues, including Alan Shearer and Ian Wright, walked out of a Match of the Day broadcast in solidarity.
More recently, it was reported that BBC staff at Euro 2024 in Germany were unhappy with Lineker’s apparent criticism of the England team at the tournament on his podcast, The Rest is Football.
Lineker has since insisted his widely publicised “shit” description was aimed at the quality of the group stage match against Denmark and not directly at manager Gareth Southgate and his team.
Following Lineker’s comment, captain Harry Kane hit out at pundits and commentators for their assessments, saying: “I would never want to be disrespectful to any player, especially a player who has worn the shirt and knows what it’s like to play for England.
‘But what former players who are now experts have to realize is that it is very difficult not to hear it now, especially for some players who are not used to it or some players who are new to the environment.
‘I always feel they have a responsibility – I know they have to be honest and give their opinion, but they also have a responsibility as ex-England players.
“The bottom line is that we haven’t won anything as a nation for a long, long time and a lot of these players were part of that as well and they know how difficult it is.”
ITV declined to comment.