Claudio Ranieri has returned to life in the dugout with Cagliari, who have appointed him as head coach on a contract until June 2025. The Serie B club announced the news on Friday, some 31 years after he first left the club, with Ranieri saying: “We are bound by mutual respect and love.”
The charismatic 71-year-old is best known in England for guiding Leicester to a fairytale Premier League title in 2016, but he failed to work his magic at his last club, Watford, as they earned only seven points in three months before he left the job in January.
In a statement, Cagliari said he returns “to write a new chapter in history … welcome back, Mister, how nice to hug you again!”
Ranieri told the club website: “I’m going back to Cagliari: I’ve always known it, I declared it even then, at the time of my departure. Cagliari made me understand that maybe I could make it in my job, I had found all the elements that helped me in those three years: fans, players, managers, we were all one.
“In these days you have helped me make this decision, which was not easy for various reasons. We are bound by mutual respect and love, many beautiful memories.
“For this, I come with unchanged enthusiasm, love and passion, but I alone is not enough. The help of the club will be needed, which strongly wanted me, my new boys, our fans will be needed, especially them, to push our Cagliari to the results that we all strongly hope for.”
The club added in its own statement: “Cagliari Calcio is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement with Claudio Ranieri who will take over the technical leadership of the first team from 1 January 2023: the coach has signed a contract that binds him to the Rossoblù [Reds and Blues] club until 30 June 2025.”
Ranieri, whose past clubs in Italy also include Juventus, Roma, Internazionale, Fiorentina, Parma and Sampdoria, takes over a Cagliari side who are in 14th place of 20 in the second tier after being relegated last season. His achievements in his first spell at the club from 1988 to 1991 included a run of promotions from Serie C1, all the way up to Serie A.
The much-travelled manager, whose first role was at Vigor Lamezia in 1986, has also managed Chelsea, Fulham, Nantes, Monaco, Valencia, Atlético Madrid and the Greece national team.
