Guus Hiddink will consider 'concrete offer' if Chelsea come calling

Posted Saturday, May 28, 2011 by theguardian.com

• Turkey coach focusing on Euro qualifer v Belgium next week
• Club confident of securing Dutchman's release from contract

Guus Hiddink won the FA Cup with Chelsea during his three-month spell as caretaker manager at Stamford Bridge in 2009.

Guus Hiddink has waived an opportunity to commit his long-term future to the Turkey national team, with Chelsea's principal managerial target admitting he would consider any "concrete offer" for his services.

The 64-year-old said his focus remains fixed on next Friday's Euro 2012 qualifier in Belgium, a game Turkey, third in Group A, can ill afford to lose. Yet Chelsea are confident they can secure Hiddink's release from the final 12 months of his contract, and the Turkish Football Federation's resolve to retain the Dutchman will be tested after the match in Brussels.

On Friday Hiddink declined to speak explicitly about Chelsea, where he enjoyed a three-month spell as caretaker manager in 2009, but suggested he would be eager to return to day-to-day club management. "At the moment there's nothing concrete to talk about, but if there was a concrete offer I would think about it," he said. "We'll play this game and then we'll see. The moment things are concrete, I'll go to where I have to be. My thoughts are, first, on this difficult game next Friday. Then we'll see.

"I have the energy. I'm not feeling that I should sit back. As long as I feel fresh, and as long as young people – players – are not getting annoyed with me, then I will continue. I feel energetic to go on. Sir Alex Ferguson is a lesson to all of us. I read that his wife told him to get back to work, not just to sit there in the garden and do nothing. You should only walk away if you start repeating yourself and can't keep it fresh. But I don't feel like that at this moment. And my wife thinks I'm a lousy gardener."

Hiddink is understood to earn around £3.5m a year and is overseeing a week-long training camp in his native Netherlands ahead of the Belgium game. He has not held a permanent position at a club since leaving PSV Eindhoven in 2006 for roles with Australia, Russia and now Turkey. His brief spell at Chelsea, as an interim manager following Luiz Felipe Scolari's dismissal in February 2009, was combined with his duties with Russia, although that arrangement could not be repeated.

"That was an exceptional situation," he said. "Roman Abramovich was also supporting Russian football very strongly so, when they asked me to jump in for that period, we spoke with the president of the federation in Russia and all agreed. But you must only do one job." Turkey would not countenance a similar job-share over the final season of his current contract.

His tenure with the TFF has been far from spectacular and there was fierce criticism after a qualifying defeat to Azerbaijan. He has retained the support of the TFF president, Mahmut Ozgener, though the federation is due to hold a presidential election in mid-June. Defeat in Belgium, which would leave the Turks four points adrift of the group's play-off place, would prompt calls for Hiddink to be dismissed.

"I have a good relationship with the president," said the Dutchman, who commutes to and from Istanbul from his home in Amsterdam. "He's a very modern-thinking guy, and we always talk when needed, every fortnight. Whatever happens in the elections, my focus will remain on winning.

"But the reaction here is rather up and down and, should we lose, I can imagine they would say it would be better if I quit. As they did when we lost to Germany and Azerbaijan. There are rumours, too, that it would be easier for me to leave if we lost to Belgium, but I've been in this business a long time. That is not influencing my approach to the team. The focus is on the job and this game. That's it."

Chelsea hope to have a new manager in place by the middle of June, which would allow Hiddink to settle before the playing staff return on 4 July for pre-season training.

The squad are already familiar with Hiddink, who has acted as an adviser to Abramovich on an ad hoc and unpaid basis since leaving Stamford Bridge