Claudio Ranieri joins French side Nantes as head coach

Italian football manager, Claudio Ranieri, has signed a two-year deal to become the head coach of Nantes, the French club confirmed on Thursday.

“FC Nantes are delighted to announced the arrival of Claudio Ranieri,” the Ligue 1 side said on its website as the appointment of the 65-year-old Italian was made official.

According to Nantes, the club received special dispensation from French league officials to hire Ranieri as he had reached managers’ age limit of 65 last year.

“The negotiations were very, very swift,” Nantes president Waldemar Kita said.

Ranieri, a former Leicester City manager, who was the architect of the Foxes’ fairytale Premier League triumph, arrived just four months after he was sacked.

He had guided Leicester to a 5000-1 odds Premier League title in 2016.

But his second season was a disaster as the English team flirted with relegation, despite being through to the Champions League last 16.

The Italian already has experience of working in France, having guided Monaco back to Ligue 1 in 2012/13 and then to second place behind Paris Saint-Germain the following season.

Nantes finished seventh in Ligue 1 last season but a week ago agreed to allow Portuguese coach Sergio Conceicao to return to his homeland and take over the reins at Porto.

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