Champions League, European Championship and World Cup-winner captain Fabio Cannavaro is back in club management. He was heavily linked with the Leeds job for a period of time last month, but has taken the job at Tianjin Quanjian, who play in China League One.
The 42-year-old takes the job with the second-tier club, with Chinese football quickly becoming the richest footballing market around the globe.
The Daily Mail also reports that Cannavaro did hold initial talks with Leeds United owner Massimo Cellino over becoming their head coach, the position which was taken by Steve Evans at the time. Garry Monk was recently given the job on a one-year rolling contract.
The Italian is no stronger to football in this part of the world however. In November 2014 he was named the manager of Guangzhou Evergrande, who play in the top flight of Chinese football, the Super League. He lasted 23 games in the role, before being replaced by ex-Chelsea and Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Cannavaro, who has also won Serie A, La Liga, the UEFA Cup and the Ballon d’Or Award, was last in management in Saudi Arabia with Al-Nassr. He stepped down after 16 matches in charge in February.
In his playing career, he spent most of his time with Parma, but also played for clubs such as Real Madrid, Inter, Juventus and Napoli.
He takes the job in China, replacing Vanderlei Luxemburgo, the former Brazil and Real Madrid head coach, who recently left his role with the club.
