Tottenham legend Robbie Keane gave a very tetchy answer before storming off when asked about the vacant managerial role at his old side.
The Ferencvaros boss is understood not to be interested in becoming Spurs’ interim head coach, despite his name being discussed by Tottenham chiefs.
And when he was speaking to press on the side of the pitch after watching his side win 4-0 in the Hungarian Cup on Wednesday night, Keane was asked: ‘If it comes to it, would you expect their (Tottenham’s) invitation for you to become the manager?’
Keane grumpily shrugged and snapped: ‘I can’t help speculation,’ before abruptly ending the interview and walking off.
The Irishman, 45, would only be interested in returning to Spurs for the manager’s job on a permanent basis – not as a ‘seat-warmer’.
Robbie Keane (left) snapped at a question about succeeding Thomas Frank (right) at Tottenham
Keane has been in charge of the Hungarian outfit since January last year and is currently fourth favourite for the Tottenham job at 11/2 at time of writing.
Fascination surrounds who Spurs will go for as their next boss having chosen to sack Thomas Frank earlier this week after defeat at home by Newcastle.
Keane is still relatively early on in his coaching journey but has worked across the world.
His first role was with ATK in India as a player-manager before taking the assistant role with his national side.
He then joined Middlesbrough as assistant before joining Leeds in the same role. Keane took the step up to become No 1 with Maccabi Tel Aviv, winning the title in his only season before opting to depart.
Keane has carried that momentum into his role with Ferencvaros and they currently lead the title race.
Keane celebrates scoring for Tottenham against Man City – one of his 91 Spurs goals
In his playing career, the striker played more than 200 games across two spells with Tottenham and scored 91 goals for the club.
The current bookies’ favourite to take over at Spurs is ex-Marseille boss Roberto de Zerbi, who left the French side after a 5-0 hammering by PSG this week.
John Heitinga, who was hired as assistant last month, is second-favourite, with Mauricio Pochettino behind him and Keane in fourth.
Tottenham are enduring a disastrous campaign, currently down in 16th place and being dragged into a relegation scrap.
But the new manager will at least be able to lead them into the knockout stages of the Champions League after they qualified from the group section.
