Why I turned down the Netherlands coaching job, Slot

Former Liverpool coach Arne Slot has shared why he did not take the Netherlands manager position. He said he wants to stay in club football.

Slot spoke with the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) about taking over from Ronald Koeman but decided not to move forward with the discussions.

The 47-year-old dismissed claims that he backed out due to issues over pay or the length of a possible contract.

As BBC Sport reported, Slot said, “Over the past few weeks, and particularly the past few days, various reports have appeared regarding the vacancy at the Dutch national team, suggesting that I had withdrawn from the process after lengthy negotiations, including regarding salary and contract duration.”

“That speculation is incorrect. We simply never reached that stage of the talks.”

Slot explained that he prefers working with a club team every day at this point in his career.

“At this stage of my career, I prefer to see myself on the training pitch with my players every day. Something that is simply not possible in the same way with a national team,” he said.

“And this is why I chose not to continue the talks and not to start negotiations on what a possible contract might look like.”

The former Feyenoord coach made it clear that his choice is not about his feelings towards the national team or the KNVB.

“I have enormous respect for the national team and for the KNVB and can only be positive about the professional manner in which the talks proceeded that week,” he said.

“For now, I believe that club football still has a lot to offer me.”

Slot, who led Feyenoord to the Eredivisie title in 2023, has not ruled out coaching the national team in the future.

“It would be a great honour to represent my country as national coach one day. However, this was not the right moment for me,” he added.

With Slot out of the picture, reports from the Netherlands say former Portugal coach Roberto Martinez is now a candidate for the job.