Jaidi departs Southampton after a decade

Radhi Jaidi has left Southampton after more than a decade to become assistant manager at Belgian side Cercle Brugge.

The 45-year-old joined Saints in August 2009 as a player and moved onto the staff after retiring in 2012. His first role was as International Development Manager and then become Under-23s assistant and U23s lead, in June 2017.

Under his charge, the side was promoted to Premier League 2 Division 1 in 2019.

From January to November 2020, the former Tunisia international and African Cup of Nations Winner took charge of Hartford Athletic in the USL Championship as part of a partnership between the Connecticut-based outfit and Southampton’s Academy.

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He had a 65% win ratio and led the team to the play-offs for the first time in their history, where they lost in the quarter-finals.

At Cercle Brugge he will assist Yves Vanderhaeghe and be responsible for “setting up individual training programmes for the players as well as preparing the squad for training sessions and matches.”

Jaidi, who has to quarantine before starting work for the Belgian side, said: “I am really looking forward to taking up this challenge and getting involved at Cercle.

“I hope my experiences will help me achieve the ambitious objectives. I can’t wait to get started and get to know everyone in the organisation.”

Southampton added: “Everyone at the club would like to extend their gratitude to Radhi for his years of service at Southampton and we wish him every success in his the future.”