Arne Slot has insisted that he decided to stay at Feyenoord because he really enjoys the environment at the club and was keen to lead them into the Champions League next season.
Following the collapse of Arne Slot‘s move to Tottenham last week, some publications suggested that the Dutchman was actually keen on taking the job and that the move fell through as a result of the Lilywhites refusing to pay the £20m compensation that Feyenoord wanted (talkSPORT).
(Photo by Pim Waslander/Soccrates/Getty Images)
However, other outlets such as 1908.nl have claimed that the Feyenoord hierarchy convinced the 44-year-old that it would be a mistake to leave the club through the back door, given what he has built at De Kuip.
The report added that Feyenoord technical director Dennis te Kloese and in-house lawyer Joris van Benthem allegedly had an hour-long conversation with the Slot last Wednesday.
During these talks, they questioned whether he really wanted to leave ‘in this way’ instead of leading the club into the Champions League next season.
The Dutch coach has now broken his silence on his decision, insisting that he really values what he has at Rotterdam and there is more to life than just competing in a top championship like the Premier League.
When asked about his decision to stay, Slot told The Athletic: “We are going to play in the Champions League, which I’ve never done before as a player and as a coach. The club is in a real good place.
“And I want to work longer on the project to see what comes from that, because you can every time leave somewhere after one or two successful seasons but, in the end, where and what are you then?
“So sometimes you also have to cherish what you have. There’s more to life and to football than only winning a prize.
“It is also the way you work. It’s not always that you come into the place where you can work like we can here and be happy, professional-wise but also family-wise.”
Te Kloese was also asked about Slot’s decision to stay and he remarked that it was not difficult to convince him to do so.
The Feyenoord director said: “Circumstances also played a role. Family circumstances, but also Feyenoord are in the Champions League.
“After the celebrations when we won the title — the scenes last week at the city hall, how many people turned up — the emotion poured into it, you get a feeling this is a real big club. If you take everything into account, you recognise what you have here is not so bad.
“With a nice contract, with a supportive staff, people who all have the best interests of the club in mind — then to convince somebody to step out of that is not an easy thing.
“And I think at some point, probably when everything settled down, he also made up his mind that by doing well here, hopefully (doing well) next year also would open doors.
“And there’s no secret in that there’s a lot of interest in him. There’s a lot of people looking at him and he’s highly regarded.
“So we’re very happy also that he can stay, we consider him as a huge talent and he probably will get an opportunity (elsewhere), but we hope that opportunity stays away a little bit longer.”
Spurs Web Opinion
If Slot never intended to leave Feyenoord, he would have probably dismissed the speculation linking him to Spurs right from the offset.
The fact that the move collapsed so late suggests that he wanted the job but the North London club were not able to agree on compensation with the Dutch club.
The 44-year-old might have decided to sign a new deal at De Kuip rather than agitating to get himself out of the club.
I get the feeling that Tottenham’s position was that they did not want Slot if he was not keen enough on the job to force himself out of Feyenoord.
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