Hamburg striker Ruud van Nistelrooy has revealed he turned down the opportunity to join Fulham last summer.
The Dutchman moved to Germany from Real Madrid after rejecting the chance to join several other clubs, including members of the Premier League.
Van Nistelrooy based his decision to snub Fulham on footballing reasons and he is now preparing to gun down the London side in Thursday's Europa League semi-final first leg, with Roy Hodgson's side travelling to Hamburg by coach.
The former Manchester United forward said in The Sun: "Fulham asked Real about me, but did not come up with a concrete proposition.
"The decision to join Hamburg was purely down to sporting aspects. I am still very ambitious and wanted to play for as many minutes as possible this season."
Van Nistelrooy is impressed with the achievements of Fulham this season, with victories over the likes of Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus and Wolfsburg booking a place in the two-legged last four of the Europa League.
He added: "It is incredible that they are in a European semi-final, but they fully deserve their success.
"Having said that, if we don't make the final it will be a total disaster. It is impossible to think we might fail."
He continued: "Now I'm confident for this match and our dream is 180 minutes away.
"If we analyse history, Hamburg are better than Fulham, but that means absolutely nothing. Fulham have been a revelation in Europe this season.
"People here think Bobby Zamora is the key to Fulham, but we see how compact their team is and how powerful they are in defence. It won't be easy to break them down.
"They have already had some historic results, like the one against Juventus, and the key to victory will be to stop them scoring in the first leg."
