Nigel de Jong, the Netherlands' technical director, spoke at a press conference during the presentation of Xavi Hernandez as the new head coach of the Oranje: "Our first candidate to replace Ronald Koeman was Pep Guardiola, but he wanted to take a year out.
Our second candidate was Arne Slot, but he preferred to stay in club football.
So we turned to our third candidate, the man next to me, Xavi Hernandez."