Fabio Cannavaro is to return to Guangzhou Evergrande for a second spell as head coach after his soon-to-be-announced departure from Tianjin Quanjian, sources have confirmed to Goal.
Evergrande 7/2 to beat Tianjin
After several round of talks, plans to appoint recently ousted Bayern Munich boss Carlo Ancelotti as the successor to Luiz Felipe Scolari, who is expected to leave once his contract expires at the end of November, have been scrapped by the seven-time Chinese Super League champions.
Cannavaro replaced Marcello Lippi at Evergrande at the end of 2014 but his short stint in charge only lasted six months after defensive deficiencies and injury problems derailed Evergrande’s season.
Ironically, Scolari came to the rescue of the then struggling Evergrande following the sacking of Cannavaro and managed to steady the ship.
During his three years in charge, the former Chelsea coach has won three Chinese leagues, one Chinese Cup, two super cups and an AFC Champions League title.
Cannavaro has also slowly rebuilt his reputation in China.
Since swapping Guangzhou for Tianjin in 2016, he has experienced great success at Quanjian, helping to guide the club to CSL promotion at the first attempt and currently having them sat fourth in the top flight.
However, despite the impressive results, Tianjin Quanjian will part company with the World Cup-winning Italian at the end of the season.
That decision came after intensive talks in which the two parties expressed a huge difference of opinion regarding the direction of the club, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
The process has begun to find Cannavaro's successor, and the leading candidates to become Quanjian’s new coach include Borussia Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel, former Bayern and USA manager Jurgen Klinsmann and Ancelotti.
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