Italy's World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi has revealed that he has spurned the advances of a number of Premier League clubs because of his limited grasp of the English language, something he feels could restrict his fellow countryman - new England manager Fabio Capello.

Lippi rejected an approach from Birmingham City earlier this season and had also been linked to the England job before it became clear that Capello was the man the Football Association had their sights on.

Lippi believes that Steve McClaren's successor must live up to his promise to have drastically improved his grasp of the English language by the time he and his new squad assemble for the first time in February.

"The fact that I don't speak English is one of the reasons why I have turned down three or four proposals in that last two years that have arrived from the English Premiership," he said.