Cardiff close to appointing Sabri Lamouchi

Published on: 26 January 2023

Former Parma and Monaco midfielder Sabri Lamouchi won 12 caps for France between 1996 and 2001

Cardiff City are close to making former Nottingham Forest boss Sabri Lamouchi their third manager of the season.

Lamouchi, 51, is set to be joined at the Cardiff City Stadium by ex-Bluebirds defender Sol Bamba who will assist his former Ivory Coast national team manager.

Cardiff sacked Steve Morison in September with his successor Mark Hudson lasting just 118 days.

Lamouchi's appointment is likely to be confirmed by the club this week.

His remit will be to keep Cardiff in the Championship with the Welsh club enduring a difficult season.

The Bluebirds are just three points above the relegation zone in 21st position and without a win in 11 games in all competitions.

It is understood that the Cardiff board felt experience of managing in the Championship was essential, with former West Brom boss Valerien Ismael and ex-Norwich manager Dean Smith also linked with the role.

Lamouchi was in charge of Forest for the 2019-20 campaign when they were pipped to the play-offs by Cardiff and Swansea City in a remarkable last-game turnaround on goal difference.

He most recently managed Qatari side Al-Duhail and had a distinguished playing career during which he won silverware with Auxerre, Monaco, Parma, Marseille and El Jaish in Qatar.

Lamouchi also worked in Ligue 1 as manager of Rennes, steering them to fifth before taking the role at the City Ground.

Bamba's return to the Cardiff City Stadium will be popular with fans, as he was a key player during his five years with the club.

Bamba made 118 appearances for the Bluebirds having arrived as a free agent in October 2016, scoring the winner on his debut against Bristol City in what was also Neil Warnock's first game in charge.

The Ivory Coast international's immediate impact - and rapport with Warnock - helped move the club from relegation worries to a mid-table finish, before promotion to the Premier League the following season.

Bamba played in every game of that successful promotion campaign and was named in the Championship team of the season.

During his time at Cardiff he was also diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but announced he was cancer free four months later after undergoing chemotherapy.

Bamba will be joined in Cardiff's backroom by current caretaker boss Dean Whitehead and first-team coach Tom Ramasut, who are set to remain at the club.

Cardiff will look to bolster their squad before the close of the transfer window, but are only able to sign loan players and free transfers following the lifting of their transfer embargo.

The lifting of the embargo follows Cardiff paying the first instalment of the £15m transfer fee for striker Emiliano Sala, who died in a plane crash en route to joining the club in January 2019.

Fifa imposed a transfer embargo for three transfer windows following Cardiff's refusal to pay the first instalment of the fee they had agreed for Argentine striker Sala.

Cardiff had insisted Sala was not officially registered as their player.

They lost their appeal against that ruling by Fifa at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne in 2022.

Source: bbc.com

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