Hassan Shehata, who is widely considered as one of Egypt's greatest-ever coaches, is close to taking charge of Qatari side Al-Arabi, the club said on Friday. “The board of directors convened on Thursday night to discuss nominations for the coach who will replace Frenchman Pierre Lechantre,” Al-Arabi said in a statement on their official website. “We agreed to appoint Egyptian coach Hassan Shehata as the club's new manager. We will open talks with him in the next few hours.” Shehata left Cairo giants Zamalek in July following the team's 1-0 defeat by arch-rivals Ahly which all but ended their hopes of qualifying for the African Champions League semi-final. His disappointing stint with Zamalek was in stark contrast to his glorious reign with the Egyptian national team, whom he guided to an unprecedented feat of three successive African Nations Cup triumphs in 2006, 2008 and 2010. He left Egypt last year after they surprisingly failed to qualify for the 2011 edition in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports)