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Netherlands coach Louis Van Gaal has revealed he was approached by Tottenham over potentially replacing Andre Villas-Boas as manager at White Hart Lane after the Portuguese boss was sacked.
The 62 year-old, who won the European Cup with Ajax and league titles at both Barcelona and Bayern Munich, confirmed that Spurs contacted him before chairman Daniel Levy appointed Tim Sherwood as manager on an 18 month contract.
And despite rebuffing the approach, Van Gaal left the door open for a move to the Premier League after he takes the Netherlands to the World Cup.
"I want to work in the Premier League because that is the league I have not worked in yet," he told Sky Sports News.
"I want to coach here in the Premier League because I think Spain, Germany and England are the strongest competitions.
"That is an ambition and who knows."
When asked if he was considered for the Tottenham job, Van Gaal confirmed the approach and suggested he declined the option of taking on a dual role managing the Netherlands and Spurs.
"Everybody knows it so I can admit it," he added. "I don't do things in a double function.
"You have to give an example to your players that they have to focus on the national team and that is my ambition also.
"I have refused (the Tottenham job) but maybe there will come another chance. That is the difficulty with coaching. When you are free, then maybe there are no vacancies.
"When you are working, then there are vacancies. It is always difficult. After the World Cup I shall retire or, if there is a Premier League club, I shall think about it."
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Sherwood has earned plaudits for recovering Tottenham's shaky form and on Sunday, Spurs registered five consecutive league wins away from home for the first time since the 1960-61 season. But the 44 year-old admitted that his job rests on the club finishing in the top four at the end of the season.
He said: "The final league position has to meet the expectation of the club otherwise it's 'goodbye Charlie'."
"The club needs to finish in fourth place, we want to finish in fourth place. Anything other than that will be a disappointment but realistically we should be in amongst it."