Croatia manager Slaven Bilic has confirmed that he recently turned down the chance to manage Bundesliga side Schalke.
Bilic has often been tipped to manage in the Premier League but according to Croat the German club were keen on him to succeed recently sacked boss Fred Rutten.
Bilic led Croatia to the European Championship in Austria and Switzerland in 2008 at the expense of England but they currently face a fight on their hands if they are to qualify for South Africa with England topping the group with a 100% record.
“The people from Schalke were in Zagreb on Sunday and we spoke,” Bilic told Bild ahead of his side’s World Cup qualifier against Andorra.
“It is a huge honour for me to be considered a candidate with such a big club.
“I thanked them and repeated that I just want to focus on the Croatia national team at the moment.”
Meanwhile Schalke have denied that they met with Bilic and stated that the Croat would not be taking charge any time soon.
“There has been no direct contact between Schalke 04 and the manager of Croatia,” a club statement read.
“Slaven Bilic will not become manager of Schalke 04, neither now nor at the end of the season.”
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