Vieira leaves New York to join Nice

NEW YORK: New York City FC manager Patrick Vieira has left his position to join French Ligue 1 club Nice, both teams said yesterday.

The former Arsenal and France captain, who took over as manager of the American Major League Soccer club in 2016, will replace Lucien Favre at Nice after the Swiss boss joined Bundesliga’s Borussia Dortmund last month.

Nice secured an eighthplaced league finish last season, missing out on a Europa League spot by a single point.

“Leaving New York is an incredibly difficult decision for me and for my family and one that has not been taken lightly,” the 41-year-old said.

Vieira retired at Manchester City in 2011 and began his coaching career at City’s youth team before joining New York.

“Nice were looking for a coach with the ability to continue to produce attractive football, to bring through youngsters by taking risks to help them grow, and someone who lives and breathes to win,” president Jean-Pierre Rivere said. “This coach is called Patrick Vieira…”

The Frenchman earned 107 caps for his nation and was part of the team that won the 1998 World Cup and the European Championship two years later.

Vieira’s assistant coach Christian Lattanzio, performance coach Kristian Wilson and physical performance coach Matt Cook at New York will follow the Frenchman to Nice.

City manager Pep Guardiola’s assistant coach Domenec Torrent has left the Premier League champions to take over as the new head coach of New York until the end of the 2020 season.

“Though I have enjoyed a wonderful 11 years working alongside my colleague and close friend Pep Guardiola – it has always been my ambition to manage a team again and I really couldn’t have hoped for a better opportunity than at this football club,” Torrent said.

He previously managed Italy’s Girona FC and was Guardiola’s assistant at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.