Legendary Portuguese former soccer player turned coach/manager Paulo Sousa is set to come to Nanjing and take the helm guiding Jiangsu Suning F.C. to ever more wins in the Asian football division.
Chinese media is reporting that negotiations are complete and the contract between the two parties has already been signed. Sousa was snapped by local paparazzi at Nanjing Lukou International Airport with Jiangsu football officials.
However, the Portuguese star was not the first choice for the Jiangsu Club. Suning made moves on Sousa only after being rejected in a bid for Gian Piero Ventura, manager of Italy’s national team.
Paulo Manuel Carvalho de Sousa was most recently coach at ACF Fiorentina in Tuscany, Italy. Born in 1970, he played as a defensive midfielder and appeared with the Portuguese national team in one World Cup and two European Championships.
Plagued by injuries in the latter part of his playing career, Sousa took up coaching and went on to manage several clubs in the UK and other countries, taking Maccabi Tel Aviv and Basel to wins in their respective national championships.
Jiangsu Suning became sister club to Inter Milan when it too was acquired by Suning Commerce Group. The Nanjing behemoth paid €262.8 million for Inter Milan in June of last year.
