Puel pitches up at Lyon

Claude Puel has taken over the managerial reins at Olympique Lyonnias with LOSC Lille Métropole replacing the 46-year-old by appointing former Le Mans UC 72 coach Rudi Garcia.

European regulars
Puel, who led Lille into the UEFA Champions League on three occasions and achieved two top-three Ligue 1 finishes in his five seasons with Les Dogues, has signed a four-year contract with the club that have won the French title in each of the past seven seasons. The former AS Monaco FC player and coach replaces Alain Perrin, dismissed despite leading the Stade de Gerland outfit to their first league and French Cup double last season. However, for all their domestic success, Lyon have never progressed past the quarter-finals of Europe's premier club competition.

'Truly overjoyed'
Meanwhile, Garcia is delighted to have the chance to rejoin the club with whom he began his playing career and has already stated his ambition to improve on their seventh-place finish last term. "It's a great moment of pride – I'm truly overjoyed to be rejoining LOSC," said the 44-year-old. "The priority is to build a competitive team. The directors and I have the same ambition. There are two or three places to fill and the goal will be to add quality players to fill out the current squad."