Rennes (AFP)

FC Nantes officially announced on Saturday the appointment for six months of former Blues coach Raymond Domenech as coach.

"I am very happy and very proud to join today a legendary French club like FC Nantes. I can not wait to get to work with the staff and do everything possible so that the club finds a place worthy of its rank, "Domenech, 68, told the club's website.

The technician, who is committed until the end of the 2020-2021 season with the club of the edges of the Erdre, thanks "very particularly" the president Waldemar Kita for "this magnificent opportunity to find the grounds and to start with this magnificent derby against Rennes on January 6 ".

“Come on Nantes!” Adds the former international full-back.

Raymond Domenech succeeds Christian Gourcuff, sacked at the beginning of December and thus becomes the 15th coach of Nantes - not counting the interim ones - since the arrival of President Waldemar Kita in 2007. The Nantes residents currently only occupy 16th place in the League 1.

Having become a consultant in the media, he has not been in charge of a team since the strike of French players in Knysna (South Africa) during the 2010 World Cup, and has no longer been a club coach since Lyon (1988-1993).

"FC Nantes is happy to be able to count on the experience of Raymond Domenech for the rest of the 2020-2021 season", welcomed Waldemar Kita, quoted in the press release.

"It is a carefully considered choice. I am convinced of the qualities that the former coach of the France team, used to high level, can bring to our club," he added.

© 2020 AFP