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Former France captain Marcel Desailly has reiterated his desire to prolong his playing days, but has excluded the possibility of returning to France.
Strasbourg tried to sign the 37-year-old after he quit Qatari side Al-Gharafa last month, yet he is reluctant to continue his career in the country he represented a record 116 times.
"I want to carry on playing football but with a certain amount of distance from my own country," he said. "I was contacted by several presidents of French clubs but if I end up in France people are going to criticise me.
"In England, people still have a positive hope of making a discovery. I thought I'd be fed up with football when I came back from Qatar but my desire to get into the European game again feels very personal.
"I'm in really good shape and, when you take into account my age and 20 years experience, I can still do a job for someone."
Desailly has also expressed an interest in Major League Soccer in the USA, where his old France teammate Youri Djorkaeff is prospering, but should his plans fall through he already knows what he wants to do next.
Rather than try his hand at coaching, the former Chelsea centre-back hopes to work with youngsters and plans to use the proceeds of a possible benefit match at Stamford Bridge to finance his academy in Ghana.
"Being a Coach is immediately about doing things for yourself," he explained. "It's your neck on the block. Educating [younger players] interests me a lot more."
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