Santos head coach Muricy Ramalho admitted that he was surprised at the CBF"s decision to sack the Brazil national team coach Mano Menezes on Friday, but refused to rule himself out of the running to take over the Seleção if approached.
Ramalho, 56, along with Corinthians manager Tite and former boss Luiz Felipe Scolari, has been installed as one of the favourites to take over from Menezes, who was relieved of his duties on Friday afternoon, just two days after winning the Super Classico das Americas on penalties against Argentina in Buenos Aires.
However, Ramalho, who turned down the chance to interview for the role in 2010 as he had already committed to Fluminense, told reporters that he is concentrating on his future at Santos.
He said: “It"s hard to say, we do not know what is happening [about the sacking]. It is a surprise to everyone, the squad was at the very end of the year. If it were in another situation it would be easier to see why, but we do not know what happened.
“It"s hard to say, my thinking is at Santos. I have a contract, we are concerned with the game against Corinthians."
The coach added confusion to the topic though by hinting to a clause in his contract which may allow him to leave if approached by the CBF.
“It"s difficult to talk about it. We were taken by surprise. My contract has a clause that Santos wanted. What counts is what we talked about. I left them to decide if something happened, but it"s a very big surprise.
“In relation to the contract, that clause is up to Santos to exercise or not. It will be Santos that will define my future in terms of the Seleção. I will not leave without permission, my contract goes until December 2013."
