Lyon manager Laurent Blanc sacked with team bottom of league
Lyon manager Laurent Blanc has been sacked with the team bottom of Ligue 1.
A 4-1 home defeat by Blanc’s former club Paris St-Germain proved to be his final match in charge of the club, who said Blanc left by “mutual agreement”.
Lyon have only one point from four games this season and Ligue 1’s worst goal difference.
Technical director Jean-Francois Vulliez, who oversees Lyon’s renowned academy, will manage the first team on an interim basis.
Blanc, 57, was appointed Lyon manager in October and the club ended last season in seventh, outside Ligue 1’s European places.
It was his first managerial role in France since leaving PSG after the 2015-16 season, although Blanc had managed Al Rayyan in Qatar in the interim.
Results were disappointing and Blanc’s average of 1.53 points per game is the worst of any permanent Lyon manager of the past 25 years aside from Sylvinho, who lasted just nine league matches.
Blanc previously won three Ligue 1 titles managing PSG and another in charge of Bordeaux.
Former Brighton and Chelsea manager Graham Potter, 48, was reported to have turned down the Lyon job last week.
Gennaro Gattuso, 45, is another manager strongly linked to the vacancy, having left his previous job in charge of Valencia in January.
