Feyenoord head coach Arne Slot has ruled himself out of contention for the Tottenham Hotspur vacancy in the latest blow to the Lilywhites' managerial search.
On the back of leading the Rotterdam club to their first Eredivisie title in six years, the 44-year-old had apparently emerged as the frontrunner to take over in North London from next season.
Slot - who also reached the 2021-22 Europa Conference League final with Feyenoord - was believed to be keen on taking the Tottenham job, and his agent Rafaela Pimenta spoke with the Dutch champions over his future this week.
Tottenham had not entered official talks with Slot, but they were understood to have been planning a formal approach for the Dutchman, who remains contracted to Feyenoord until 2025.
Spurs would have therefore been expected to pay around £6m in compensation to the Eredivisie holders, but Slot revealed on Thursday morning that he would be staying in Rotterdam, forcing Tottenham to look elsewhere in their pursuit of a new head coach.
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The 44-year-old confirmed that his agent had held recent talks with Feyenoord, but those discussions were to find an agreement over a contract extension rather than a potential exit.
"I have been hearing a lot of rumours going around about other clubs' interest in me. Although I am thankful, my wish is to stay at Feyenoord and continue working on what we created last year," Slot told reporters.
"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."
Slot's admission is the latest in a long line of setbacks for Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, whose side have been without a permanent head coach since Antonio Conte's bitter exit at the end of March.
Conte's former right-hand man Cristian Stellini lasted just 29 days in the hotseat before being sacked, and the Lilywhites are seeing out the season with Ryan Mason at the helm.
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Mason has revealed that he would be open to staying on permanently, but having overseen just one win from his five games in charge during his second spell, the 31-year-old is not believed to be a serious candidate for the job.
Before turning their attention to Slot, Spurs were widely expected to hire former Bayern Munich head coach Julian Nagelsmann, but it has since been reported that the German is not in the running for the job either.
Mauricio Pochettino, who was sacked by Tottenham in 2019, was also briefly linked with a return to North London, but the Argentine is set to take over at Chelsea this summer.
With Slot no longer in the running, former Spain and Barcelona head coach Luis Enrique could jump to the top of Levy's shortlist, while Brighton & Hove Albion's Roberto De Zerbi and Fulham's Marco Silva are also thought to have admirers in North London.
Tottenham sit eighth in the Premier League table ahead of Sunday's final-day meeting with Leeds United, where Mason's men must better Aston Villa's result against Brighton & Hove Albion to qualify for the 2023-24 Europa Conference League.
Ben Knapton
