PARIS: Thierry Henry has been appointed new coach of Monaco who sacked Leonardo Jardim on Thursday after a poor start to the season which has left last season’s runners-up 18th in the 20-team table.

Henry, record marksman for the French national team and for Arsenal, had been working as assistant to Belgium’s national coach Roberto Martinez.

Monaco awarded Henry a three-year contract for his first senior managerial post at the club where he made his name in the 1990s as a player.

Jardim, a 44-year-old Portuguese, had been in charge for just over four seasons during which the team had performed consistently well with the high point in 2016-17 when they won Ligue 1 and reached the Champions League semi-finals.

But, after winning 3-1 at Nantes on the opening day of the season, Monaco failed to win any of their subsequent eight league games and lost to Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund in Champions League Group A.

After going down 2-1 at home to Rennes in Ligue 1 on Sunday, they are stuck in the relegation playoff spot with six points, one more than bottom side Guingamp.

A club statement said: “Monaco have ended their collaboration with Leonardo Jardim. The entire club wish Leonardo and his coaching staff all the best for the next stage of their careers.”

Jardim said: “I am grateful and proud to have trained AS Monaco for more than four years. I always gave my best and worked with passion. We had some great victories together and I will always keep those memories.”

Jardim previously coached Camacha, Chaves, Beira-Mar and Sporting in Portugal and Olympiakos Piraeus in Greece.

Born in Venezuela to Portuguese parents, he was appointed by Monaco in June 2014 and led them to third place finishes in his first two seasons in charge.

In 2016-17, Monaco upstaged big-spending Paris St Germain to end the capital club’s run of four successive titles, before finishing second last term.

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