Former Croatia coach Slaven Bilic admits he had interest from the Premier League before signing with Lokomotiv Moscow.

The 43-year-old ended his six-year stint as Croatia boss after Euro 2012 and had confirmed before the tournament that he would be heading to Russia with Lokomotiv.

"I had interesting proposals from England, the country which I can call my second home as I played a substantial part of my career in the Premiership," said Bilic.

"But I've chosen Lokomotiv. It's a very good team which has everything in place to become even better.

"The Russian league isn't the strongest European league, but it seems to be the most difficult as last season eight teams were battling for the domestic title. None of the other leagues can boast of such tough competition."