Napoli have appointed Rudi Garcia head coach, with the Frenchman succeeding Luciano Spalletti. 

The Partenopei won their first Serie A title in 33 years last month, playing an exhilarating brand of football as Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia enjoyed standout campaigns. 

However, Spalletti decided to walk away from Stadio Diego Armando Maradona after masterminding the triumph, saying that he needed to take a year's break.

Garcia has now been appointed in his place, returning to Serie A after enjoying two-and-a-half years at Roma between 2013 and 2016. 

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Writing on his official Twitter account, Garcia said: "What a pleasure to marry the Napoli project. What a pleasure to return to Italy. I am motivated and ambitious now as never before to continue carrying the colours of the Italian champions high."

Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis expressed his delight, saying: "Having met him during the last 10 days, Rudi Garcia will be the new coach of Napoli. A sincere welcome to him and a big good luck!"

At 59, Garcia has accumulated a wealth of experience in the dugout, managing the likes of Saint-Etienne, Dijon and Le Mans before his big break at Lille, where he guided Les Dogues to a sensational league and cup double in 2010/11. 

After taking the Roma job, Garcia led the Giallorossi to back-to-back second-placed finishes, but was dismissed in January 2016 after seeing another very strong start to the season peter out. 

A similar-length spell followed at Marseille, where he came in to help the French giants rise to fifth in the table after they finished 13th the previous campaign. 

L'OM then reached the Europa League final in 2018 - losing to Atletico Madrid - but Garcia's time ran out the following year as the southern French outfit were eliminated at the group stage of Europe's second-tier competition and missed out on continental football for the 2019/20 season.

Garcia's next role was at Lyon, where he guided Les Gones to the Champions League semi-finals, famously beating Manchester City at the Etihad en route. 

However, he agonisingly missed out on Champions League qualification for 2021/22 and was most recently at Al-Nassr, a period that saw Cristiano Ronaldo arrive at the club. Garcia parted company with the Saudis in April.