Paris St Germain ended weeks of speculation over who would succeed Carlo Ancelotti on Tuesday when the Ligue 1 champions appointed Laurent Blanc as their new coach on a two-year deal. The 47-year-old Blanc, who left his job as France coach after their Euro 2012 quarter-final exit, had previously led Girondins Bordeaux to the French title in 2009. "Paris St Germain is delighted to announce the appointment of Laurent Blanc as coach for the next two years," PSG said in a statement. Blanc would start work on Monday for "the start of the pre-season training", the club added. The former France international sweeper replaces Ancelotti, who said last month he wanted to leave the club after leading them to their first French title since 1994, with the Italian agreeing to join Real Madrid on Tuesday. Blanc, who had playing spells at Montpellier, Marseille and Manchester United, and was part of France's World Cup-winning squad in 1998, was not PSG's first choice, if media reports are to be believed. French media said that Roberto Mancini, Fabio Capello, Andre Villas-Boas, Frank Rijkaard, Manuel Pellegrini, Rafa Benitez, Michael Laudrup and Guus Hiddink had all been approached by PSG. PSG have spent over 200 million euros ($261.89 million) on transfers since being taken over by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) two years ago, recruiting the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at@AO Sportsand on Facebook atAhramOnlineSports) http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/74923.aspx
