Western Sydney Wanderers boss Tony Popovic has ruled himself out of filling the vacancy at Shanghai Shenhua, according to the A-League club's CEO John Tsatsimas.
Popovic, who won the Asian Champions League title with the Wanderers in 2014 and was named Asia's Coach of the Year the same season, was approached by the club to fill the role after the Chinese Super League club parted company with Spanish coach Gregorio Manzano earlier this month.
Australian newspaper the Daily Telegraph reported Popovic had been in lengthy talks with Shanghai, but has decided to turn down the opportunity to move to China ahead of next season's challenge for the Chinese Super League and the Asian Champions League.
"Tony's been hugely successful since he and we started and it's only natural that success will attract other clubs," Tsatsimas the Daily Telegraph. "It's not the first and it won't be the last.
"Tony, myself and chairman Paul Lederer have a transparent relationship and if something came up he was interested in, of course we'd talk about it.
"But his only focus now is the team and building more success this season."
Former Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has also been linked with the post, but is believed to have turned down the opportunity, and other names connected with the job include former Paris Saint-Germain boss Laurent Blanc.