Slaven Bilic

Slaven Bilic has revealed how he turned down the opportunity to take over as Fulham manager.

The Croatia boss has seen his stock rise in recent months after he masterminded England's downfall in Euro 2008 qualification, with his side's 3-2 victory at Wembley ultimately leading to the departure of Steve McClaren.

Bilic was at Craven Cottage on Saturday to see the Premier League successful clash with Arsenal, before appearing as a studio guest with Sky Sportson Sunday.

The former West Ham centre-back insists that his latest visit to England was purely to meet with three of his Croatia squad; Arsenal forward Eduardo da Silva, Niko Kranjcar of Portsmouth and Manchester City's Vedran Corluka ahead of the forthcoming friendly against Holland.

And Bilic insists he remains committed to his role with Croatia, having already rejected the chance to boost his wages by taking a post in the Premier League.

He said: "If I was after the money, I would have accepted the first offers that came my way from Mohamed Al Fayed (Fulham chairman) and others.

"If I have to explain my position every time I cross the border, no problem. I've been to London privately a few times before."

Roy Hodgson took over as Fulham boss in December following the sacking of Lawrie Sanchez, who was only appointed as Chris Coleman's replacement in May.