Pep Clotet: Oxford United name ex-Leeds United and Swansea City coach as manager
- Published
Pep Clotet left Leeds United after Garry Monk resigned as manager this summer
Oxford United have appointed former Leeds United and Swansea City assistant boss Pep Clotet as their new manager.
The Spaniard, 40, worked as number two to Garry Monk at both teams and replaces Michael Appleton, who left Oxford to become Leicester assistant.
Clotet was chosen from a list of six, which included an internal candidate, and will work with the League One side's existing coaching staff.
"I will be working very hard to ensure their faith is repaid," said Clotet.
"Right from the first time I spoke to the club, we were very much in tune about the challenges and opportunities here, which is what led me to realise that this was the right move in my career."
Clotet, who did not accompany newly appointed Middlesbrough boss Monk to Teesside, joined Swansea as academy consultant in 2013 under Michael Laudrup.
He has managed in Spain - at lower-league Cornella and Figueres as well as the B teams at Espanyol and Malaga - and Sweden - at Halmstads. He was among the candidates to become Brentford's new boss in 2015.
"It is an appointment that demonstrates our growing reputation within football as a forward-looking and ambitious club," said Oxford chairman Darryl Eales.
"Pep was the unanimous choice of the board, and we believe he will build on the significant progress we have made over the past three years and accelerate our collective objective of sustainable Championship status."
On Monday, Eales said the club had missed out on transfer targets Liam Lindsay and Conor McAleny as a result of Appleton's departure on 20 June, adding that player recruitment would only start after his successor was found.
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