Tottenham Hotspur target Arne Slot has ruled himself out of the running to be the club’s next manager after meeting with Feyenoord to negotiate a contract extension.
Slot’s public revelation delivers yet another major blow to Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy’s hopes of recruiting a successor for Antonio Conte, with the Premier League club yet to appoint their next manager despite splitting with the Italian two months ago.
Slot had been identified in the last week as a genuine candidate for Levy if a compensation package could be negotiated for the Dutch coach, worth at least £6 million along with paying for his backroom staff. In response, Feyenoord prepared a new contract offer to Slot to counter the interest, worth nearly £3 million per season.
Talks took place on Wednesday over the 44-year-old’s future, and subsequently he ruled himself out of the race to be the next Tottenham manager.
“I have been hearing a lot of rumors going around about other clubs’ interest in me,” Slot told Dutch newspaper AD.
“Although I am thankful, my wish is to stay at Feyenoord and continue working on what we created last year.
“There is not – and there has not been – transfer conversation and yesterday’s meeting was exclusively for an extension. All talks with the club have always been only in that sense. Looking forward to next season with Feyenoord.”
Tottenham have already failed to lure former Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann to north London since Conte’s departure, and have also made contact with Luis Enrique in their search for a new head coach, with Levy keen to now settle on a leading candidate and work towards making an appointment.
More to follow…
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