Former Birmingham City and Charlton Athletic star lands manger role at Champions League club

Former Birmingham City defender Djimi Traoré has landed himself a role at a Champions League club.

Get French Football News is reporting that Traoré will become the manager of AS Monaco's youth team. He returns to a club that he spent two seasons at as a player between the years of 2009 and 2011. He replaces Damien Perrinelle who had been working in assisting first-team manager Adi Hütter.

“We have a new coach for the Groupe Élite, Djimi Traoré," said Monaco's CEO Thiago Scuro to GFFN.

"We are very, very happy. He is a guy with a clear vision of the game we have, he’s also a former player at the club (2009-2011). He showed a lot of ambition to come here. He has a strong experience of developing players. He is coming soon. He will be the head coach of the Groupe Élite."

Monaco finished second in Ligue One and so they will compete in the UEFA Champions League next season. Clubs that qualify for Europe's main club competition also have their academy teams entered in the UEFA Youth League where Traore could manage.

Traoré is most remembered for his time at Liverpool, joining them in 1999. He made 141 appearances for the Reds and started in the 2005 Champions League final, where they came from three goals down against AC Milan to win on penalties.

The FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Champions League winner played three times for Birmingham City in the 2008/09 season, joining from FA Cup winners Portsmouth. Blues went on to win promotion under Alex McLeish that season, with Traore appearing in the final three games of the campaign.

The other clubs he played for in his career are Lens, Rennes, Monaco, Marseille and Seattle Sounders. In a playing career that began in 1997 and finished in 2014, he made 324 appearances at club level and appeared 10 times for the Mali national team.