Oscar Garcia is closing in on a return to football management.

Albion's former head coach is back in Barcelona plotting his next move after an extraordinary few months.

He has recovered from the health scare which hospitalised him with chest pains and forced him to leave Watford after just 27 days in charge.

The mild-mannered Spaniard, who steered Albion into the Championship play-offs last season before quitting, is now ready to throw himself back into the highly pressurised environment of the technical area.

Oscar, 41, revealed to The Argus: "I don't understand life without football. I have been involved in football since I was six-years-old and I'll keep being involved.

"I'm perfect in terms of health, I can do everything. I can have a normal life and obviously I can return to football management. I've had some offers and I'm starting looking for the right one.

"I'm working for some Spanish media talking about football but it's only temporary. I have some future plans. I like the smell of the grass too much to stop managing or not to be involved."

Oscar's availability is sure to attract plenty of interest. He was a wanted man after leaving Albion and then cutting short his second spell in charge of Maccabi Tel Aviv in war-torn Israel.

Leeds United and Fulham were among the clubs Oscar was linked with during that period. "I had talks with four English clubs," he confirmed. "But I won't say which ones."

Oscar's June return to Tel Aviv raised eyebrows. He ended his first stint, having guided Maccabi to their first Israeli title for a decade, amid fears for his family's safety. He went back to honour a pledge following their entry into the Champions League but lasted only 85 days.

"I'm a man of my word," Oscar said. "When I left Maccabi I promised that one day I'd go back to coach the team in Europe. I didn't expect it would be so soon but I wanted to keep my word.

"After a successful pre-season we went back to Israel and the conflict started. We hoped it would be like the first season, but after 15 days we saw that it would take a long time to get a ceasefire.

"I went there because I love the club and the fans, but we couldn't do our job properly. It was so difficult and we decided to leave, not for personal reasons, only for professional reasons.

"We wanted to be honest, because we couldn't do our job like we wanted to do. I was so sorry, because I was excited about the coming season."

It was only a matter of days before Watford, and others, following his successful debut season in English football with Albion, turned to Oscar.

Watford felt like a good fit. He was appointed on September 2 as the replacement for Italian Beppe Sannino but stepped down before the month was out, a few days before Albion coincidentally visited Vicarage Road.

Oscar said: "It was a big blow, because Watford have a fantastic squad, one of the best in the Championship, and I was sure that we would have had a very good season. It was the perfect combination for the club and for me."

Watford have continued to thrive under Serbian Slavisa Jokanovic. They host leaders Derby County on Saturday with only three points and four places dividing the teams.

Albion and Sami Hyypia have found life contrastingly tough in the post-Oscar period. They head for Norwich with just a point and two places cushioning them from the bottom three.

It gives Oscar no satisfaction to see the club struggling but he is proud of what he achieved during his tenure at the Amex, emulating the Seagulls' top six finish under his predecessor Guy Poyet with an inferior squad, ravaged by injuries to key players for chunks of the campaign like Leo Ulloa, Liam Bridcutt, Andrew Crofts and Andrea Orlandi.

He also nurtured the progression into senior contention of Jake Forster-Caskey, Rohan Ince and the currently sidelined Solly March.

Oscar said: "I'm very proud of the job I did. It's not easy to get to the play-offs two seasons in a row and we did it.

"The players gave 200 per cent, because we didn't have the deepest squad and before the start of the season nobody said that Brighton would be a contender for promotion or the play-offs. I'm also proud of my job with the young players."

Oscar's departure from Albion was rooted in frustrations over the recruitment set-up and playing budget constraints.

He found chairman Tony Bloom's criticism of his communication skills in the immediate aftermath particularly unfair and hurtful but resisted the temptation to bite back.

His five-year-old daughter still sings the song devised by Albion supporters during her dad's reign about him drinking sangria and coming from Barca.

Oscar's affection for Albion is similarly transparent. "They have signed a lot of players to improve the team, I'm sure they'll go up to the table," he said.

"I wish the best to the club, to the players, to the staff and especially the fans. Brighton and Hove Albion will always be in my heart."