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Former Liverpool manager Arne Slot has been linked with the Netherlands national team role.

Former Liverpool manager Arne Slot has issued a fresh statement to make his present position clear.

The Dutch coach guided Liverpool to their 20th league title in his first season after succeeding Jurgen Klopp, but his side found it difficult to defend the crown and eventually finished fifth in the Premier League.

The former Liverpool manager has been connected with the Netherlands job in recent days and has now spoken about his next step and what he called “incorrect speculation”.

Slot was dismissed on Merseyside at the end of the season after a challenging campaign in which he fell out with star forward Mohamed Salah and ended the year without a trophy, despite summer spending of more than £400 million.

The 47-year-old has confirmed that he held talks with the Dutch football federation, the KNVB, but decided against replacing the departing Ronald Koeman as Oranje head coach, with the role now expected to go to Roberto Martinez.

“Over the past few weeks, and particularly the past few days, various reports have appeared regarding the vacancy at the Dutch national team, suggesting that I had withdrawn from the process after lengthy negotiations, including regarding salary and contract duration,” Slot said.

“That speculation is incorrect. We simply never reached that stage of the talks.

“At this stage of my career, I prefer to see myself on the training pitch with my players every day. Something that is simply not possible in the same way with a national team.

“I have enormous respect for the national team and for the KNVB and can only be positive about the professional manner in which the talks proceeded that week. For now, I believe that club football still has a lot to offer me.

“It would be a great honour to represent my country as national coach one day. However, this was not the right moment for me.”

Slot’s impressive first season on Merseyside had made him one of the leading contenders for the Dutch job, following an outstanding coaching spell in his home country.

The Hardenberg-born coach enjoyed success with Feyenoord by winning the Eredivisie and reaching the first-ever Conference League final, where his side were beaten by Jose Mourinho’s Roma.

Slot left the Reds with a 58 per cent win rate from 113 matches. Liverpool will face Newcastle United when the new season begins.