Paris - Former French international Liliam Thuram said, in an interview published Tuesday, that President Nicolas Sarkozy recently offered him a cabinet post, even though the two had bitterly quarreled about minority politics.

"I met Nicolas Sarkozy and (his advisor) Claude Gueant, and they offered me the position of minister for (ethnic) diversity," Thuram told the daily Le Monde. "We had a long discussion. But I had no choice but to turn them down, for obvious reasons."

According to Thuram, the meeting took place at the end of last year.