Valencia coach Rino Gattuso says he turned down Tottenham last year.

Gattuso says it was his decision to pull out of talks.

He said, "I had signed with Fiorentina but after a week I gave up: we talked about many things and saw that it wasn't working. A week later (Fabio) Paratici called me for Tottenham. It was 99% closed but I didn't feel like it.

"In October and November I received other offers but I didn't have the mind. In April, after the Cup final, Anil Murthy called me and we met in Milan. He told me he liked how my teams worked. I asked him for a week and I studied the team with Gigi Riccio.

"Valencia had a totally different style than I like, but I was convinced that over time you could do a great job. Valencia is a great club. After two years at Milan and two at Napoli, I couldn't go to a team without history or to a bad city. I knew I was signing up with a big club and that it wouldn't be easy.

"I knew that fans had been angry with the owner for years and did not play in Europe. But I was convinced I was going to do a good job."