Italian Serie A champions Napoli have confirmed the appointment of Rudi Garcia as their new head coach.
The 59-year-old replaces Luciano Spalletti, who led Napoli to their first Scudetto in 33 years. Spalletti left Napoli a few weeks ago to take a sabbatical and reflect on last season’s achievements before taking on a new challenge.
After Spalletti’s exit, several managers including Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) boss Christophe Galtier and former Spain manager Luis Enrique were linked to the Napoli top job earlier this month, but Garcia has emerged as the chosen one.
Napoli issued a brief statement on their official website to confirm Garcia’s appointment but did not give any other details like the length of his contract.
“Aurelio De Laurentiis is happy to announce that Rudi Garcia has been appointed as Napoli’s head coach. The president would like to give him a warm welcome and wish him the best of luck.” Napoli’s statement reads.
Following the club’s unveiling of Garcia as their new boss, De Laurentiis tweeted: “I am pleased to announce that, after having known him for the last 10 days, Mr Rudi Garcia will be the new coach of Napoli. To him, the most sincere welcome and a good luck wish.”
The Frenchman also took to Twitter to react to his appointment, tweeting: “What a pleasure to join Napoli’s project. What a pleasure to return to Italy. I am motivated and ambitious, now more than ever, to continue to bring up the colours of the Italian Champions.”
Garcia’s last job was as head coach of Saudi Arabian Pro League side Al Nassr where superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is currently playing. Al Nassr finished second in the league, four points behind champions Al-Ittihad.
Napoli will be Garcia’s second team he has managed in Italy. He managed AS Roma for two-and-a-half-years where he won 61, drew 34 and lost 23 of his 118 games in charge before being sacked in October 2016 and replaced by Spaletti.
