Frank de Boer has taken over as manager of Inter Milan, with the club’s Chinese owners axing Roberto Mancini two weeks before the start of the Serie A season.
Inter were thrashed 6-1 by Tottenham in a friendly in Oslo on Friday, leading owners Suning Holdings Group to end Mancini’s second spell at the San Siro after two years.
De Boer won the Eredivisie four times in a six-year tenure as Ajax manager from 2010, before stepping down at the end of the 2015-16 campaign after missing out on another league title to PSV Eindhoven.
The 46-year-old, who had been strongly linked with managerial vacancies at Everton and Southampton over the summer, will be tasked with restoring Inter as a major force in Italian and European football by the club’s Chinese owners.
Suning Holdings Group, which also controls Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Suning, acquired a majority share in the Italian giants in June and vowed to ‘help Inter return to their glory days and become stronger and stronger, attracting the stars of world football.’
The vacancy is De Boer’s first outside of his native Holland.
Before moving into management, De Boer was a defender who made over 300 appearances for Ajax from 1988-1999 before joining Barcelona. He spent four years at the Nou Camp and won La Liga.
He also enjoyed brief spells at Galatasaray and Rangers in 2003 and 2004 respectively, linking up with his twin brother Ronald at Ibrox before finishing his playing career in Qatar.
De Boer also won 112 caps for Holland and captained them at the World Cup in 1998 and Euro 200.
Inter, who finished fourth in Serie A last season under Mancini’s guidance, begin their 2016-17 season away to Chievo on August 21.
They will play Celtic in the International Champions Cup, their final pre- season friendly
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