Paulo Fonseca appointed new AS Roma coach

Serie A club AS Roma has appointed Paulo Fonseca as the new head coach. The club secured the services of the 46-year-old on a two year deal with an option of extending the c0ntract by a year, according to a statement released on Tuesday.

Fonseca takes over from interim manager Claudio Ranieri who leaves the club without securing a Champions League spot. Former Leicester City manager Ranieri arrived in Rome after the club sacked Eusebio Di Francesco in early March.

The Italian giants endured a struggling season as they saw two successive managers fail to restore the former glory of Giallorossi.

The Portuguese shared his delight by the club’s Twitter account saying, “I am excited and motivated by the task ahead of us. I cannot wait to move to Rome, meet our fans and get started.”

“Together, I believe we can create something special.”

Fonseca arrives in Rome after three years at Shakhtar, where he won three straight domestic doubles after taking the reigns in 2016. He also took the Ukrainians to the Champions League last 16 in 2018.

With Roma missing the Champions League spot, big names including Edin Dzeko who is targeted by Inter Milan are likely to be off-loaded to generate revenue for the club.

The capital club had initially targetted former Chelsea fall-out manager Antonio Conte as a suitable replacement, who has taken the Inter Milan job.

Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini was on the club’s radar as well but the Italian decided to remain with La Dea.