Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says he is happy to stay at Molde after confirming he has not received an offer to become the new Aston Villa manager.
I'm not looking for another job, says Norwegian
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says he is happy to stay at Molde after confirming he has not received an offer to become the new Aston Villa manager.
The former Manchester United forward had been targeted by Villa as a potential replacement for Alex McLeish, who was sacked on Monday.
Indeed, the 39-year-old emerged as favourite for the job after it was revealed he had held informal talks with the club in Birmingham this week.
The Norwegian has confirmed he would consider any offer from the Premier League club, but stressed that he is in no hurry to move on.
"I have not received an offer, but if I do I have to consider it then," Solskjaer told a press conference. "I'm not looking for another job.
"In football, and in life in general, things turn up that you have to make decisions about. I have a contract for two more years and I'll stand by that."
Solskjaer returned to Norway on Friday to learn that Molde's billionaire backer Kjell Inge Rokke had pulled the plug on his company's 20-year support as a result of the Villa talks.
Rokke released a statement to newspaper Romsdals Budstikke criticising Solskjaer's decision to fly to England.
"This is perceived as incompatible with the MFK [Molde football club] community that we are both a part of," said the businessman.
"Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has not hidden the fact that one day he could go back to England. Nevertheless, Aker is surprised that he dropped Friday's training, and headed to England in public for informal talks with Aston Villa before three major league games in a week."
Molde director Tarje Nordstrand Jacobsen also admitted things had got out of hand.
"It's important for us to stress that there was a request Ole Gunnar put to me on Wednesday, from Aston Villa who wanted to speak to him," said Nordstrand.
"We had a short conversation about it and it was decided that Ole Gunnar would fly over on Friday and speak to them, but that it would be done as quietly as possible.
"On May 17 we felt we no longer had control over the situation, when we learned through the media that the plane had been spotted in Kristiansund.
"I then made it clear to Ole Gunnar that, if things had become public, we didn't want him to go."
