Ranieri appointed Juventus coach

Ranieri appointed Juventus coach

Claudio Ranieri

Ex-Chelsea boss Ranieri left Parma last week

Italian Serie A side Juventus have appointed former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri as their new coach.

Ranieri, 56, who resigned as Parma coach last week, had been linked with the vacant Manchester City job.

Ranieri took over the struggling Parma side in February and guided them to safety, with a 12th-place finish.

Describing Ranieri in a statement as “A man of international experience and vision,” Juventus have given him a three-year contract.

The statement added: “For Juventus, this an authoritative choice fully in line with the company’s objectives and tradition.”

Juve were demoted last summer and began the season on minus nine points after being found guilty of match-fixing, but won promotion under Didier Deschamps.

Deschamps, who won the Champions League with Juventus as a player in 1996, took charge of the Turin side last summer following their demotion to Serie B, but resigned afer guiding them back to Italy’s top-flight.

Ranieri was in charge of Chelsea between September 2000 and May 2004, before he was replaced by Jose Mourinho.

As well as Juventus and Parma, Ranieri has also coached Italian clubs Cagliari, Napoli and Fiorentina.

He also had two spells with Spanish side Valencia as well as coaching Atletico Madrid.

Former Juve coach Marcello Lippi had been reportedly the front-runner to succeed Deschamps, but the Italian World Cup winning-coach opted to remain in retirement.

I hope fingal raven has the decency to thank me after the advice I gave him last week.

Surprised at that to be honest - I was sure Capello was getting it.

Love Claudio