In office since last summer, the 50-year-old coach will leave the northern club after a disappointing season.
A small turn and then goes away. Champions of France in 2021, the leaders of Lille have bet on Jocelyn Gourvennec to succeed Christophe Galtier, who has left for Nice. The 50-year-old technician failed to ride the wave, however, with Losc failing to a modest tenth place in the Ligue 1 standings. As expected, the ex-Guingamp and Bordeaux coach will not be more in Lille at the start of the 2022-23 campaign. “The LOSC and its coach have today recorded the termination of the contract which bound them“, we learn this Thursday evening in a press release from the northern formation.
The identity of his successor is already no longer a mystery: Paulo Fonseca, whose name has been widely mentioned in recent days, should take over from Gourvennec on the northern bench according to information from The Team . Free since leaving AS Roma in 2021, the 49-year-old Portuguese technician was offered a two-year contract by Losc. Fonseca notably officiated at Porto, Braga and Shakhtar Donetsk before managing Roma for two years.
The Champions Trophy and an 8th final of C1
Under Jocelyn Gourvennec, Lille ended the season with 19 wins, 15 draws and as many losses in all competitions. The Northerners won the Champions Trophy against PSG at the very start of the season, in Tel Aviv, and reached the knockout stages of the Champions League, against Chelsea, after finishing top of their group ahead of Salzburg, Sevilla and Wolfsburg. . Above all, they struggled to regain the strength that had enabled them to win the L1 in 2021. The departures of Mike Maignan, Boubakary Soumaré and Luiz Araujo last summer, and Jonathan Ikoné at the start of the year, are not there for nothing. They don’t explain everything either…