Football
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Ex-Spain coach Vicente del Bosque rejected offer from China

Former Spain boss Vicente del Bosque has said that he turned down a lucrative offer to coach in China and reiterated that he has no plans to come out of retirement.

The 65-year-old called it quits in football management after Spain were knocked out of Euro 2016 by Italy in France earlier this summer.

De Bosque says he received word of an opportunity in the Far East but did not even ask for any specifics.

"I can confirm that I received a €10 million offer from China, but I am unsure if that was for a club or for the national team," Del Bosque told Cadena Cope.

"To be honest, I didn't pay much attention to it. I perhaps mentioned it to my wife but I'm not interested in money.

"I don't need much, I'm austere. I'm retired and I'm not going back."

Italy's 2006 World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi has been strongly linked with China's national team as a replacement for Gao Hongbo.

Lippi coached in the country before leaving in 2014. He was a big hit, guiding Guangzhou Evergrande to three CSL titles and to AFC Champions League success and he said recently that he could return to coach in China.

Del Bosque, who coached Real Madrid from 1999 to 2003 and won two Champions League crowns and two La Liga titles, does have experience abroad. He guided Turkish side Besiktas in the 2004-05 campaign.

"When I left Real Madrid, I went to Turkey and did a good thing," he said. "That was the time to leave. It was very enriching, but now it would be hard for me to leave Spain."

Del Bosque led his country to its first World Cup title in 2010 and then steered Spain to their second successive European Championship in 2012.

Under his guidance in 2014, though, Spain failed to progress from the group stage of the World Cup in Brazil.

After his retirement, Spain appointed Julen Lopetegui as coach.

Del Bosque has been impressed by Lopetegui.

"They are playing well," he said. "They have won three games and drawn one.

"The signs are good. Julen is doing a great job. But I won't go into comparisons. We did what we could.

"I've been very lucky as a coach because I've been European and World Champion in club [Real Madrid] and [Spain] national team. It's impossible that this will happen [again]."

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