Italian Claudio Ranieri is the new coach of Nantes, the Ligue 1 side said on Tuesday, just four months after he was sacked by Leicester City.

Nantes had to ask for - and received - special dispensation from French league officials to hire the popular Italian as he has reached the manager’s age limit of 65.

Ranieri guided Leicester to one of modern sport’s great upsets in the 2015/16 season as the Foxes won the Premier League in his first campaign in charge.

But his second season was a disaster as the team flirted with relegation and he was sacked in February.

Nantes finished seventh in Ligue 1 last season but a week ago agreed to allow Portuguese coach Sergio Conceicao to return to his homeland and take over the reins at Porto.