Hagi set for return to Galatasaray: report

Romanian football great Gheorge Hagi is to replace Frank Rijkaard by taking up his old job as coach of Turkish league giants Galatasaray, reports said here Thursday.

Media reports said Hagi, who won the UEFA Cup as a player with Galatasaray in 2000 and coached the team in 2004-2005, had been contacted by club bosses and has agreed “in principle” to a one and a half year deal.

He is set to travel to Istanbul Thursday to finalise the deal, according to the mass circulation Hurriyet, Haber Turk and Sabah newspapers.

Galatasaray on Wednesday announced they had ended the contract of coach Rijkaard by mutual agreement, following a disappointing start of the season.

“As a result of mutual agreement, we have decided to part ways with technical director Frank Rijkaard… as of October 20, 2010,” the statement said.

The former UEFA Cup champions had signed up the 48-year-old Dutchman, previously coach of Barcelona, Sparta Rotterdam and the Netherlands, in June 2009 on a two-year contract.

Galatasaray suffered a second defeat in a row at the weekend, falling to ninth place in the Turkish league table.