Former France international Claude Makelele has been named the new technical director of Ligue 1 side Monaco.
Makelele, 42, finished his career at Paris Saint-Germain and worked for two years as assistant manager to Carlo Ancelotti and Laurent Blanc before a brief and unsuccessful tenure as manager of Bastia in 2014.
L'AS Monaco est heureuse d'annoncer la nomination de Claude Makelele au poste de Directeur Technique ! pic.twitter.com/LUYrtwykYM
- AS MONACO (@AS_Monaco) January 7, 2016
Announcing Makelele's appointment on Thursday evening, Monaco said the former Real Madrid and Chelsea midfielder would be present at the training centre alongside manager Leonardo Jardim each day.
A club statemtent said his role would be to assist vice-president Vadim Vasilyev with "all the sporting issues at the club."
"I'm very happy to join an important club in French and European football," Makelele told Monaco's official website. "My meeting with Vadim Vasilyev was decisive to my desire to join AS Monaco and this long-term project. It's a new stage in my career and I'm convinced that this new role as technical director suits me perfectly and will allow me to continue my development.
"I'm very excited about the idea of working with a manager of the quality of Leonardo Jardim and with a promising squad. AS Monaco aim to quality for the Champions League every year and I'm going to work hard to help the team fulfill its goals."
Vasilyev also expressed his "great satisfaction" that the former Nantes, Marseille and Celta Vigo player had agreed on a move to the principality.
"It was important to have on a daily basis a professional who might serve as a link between the sporting group and the direction of the club," Vasilyev said. "This new organisation should allow AS Monaco to take new steps and to satisfy our long-term ambitions."
Monaco reached the quarterfinals of last season's Champions League, but sold several key players over the summer including Anthony Martial, Layvin Kurzawa, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco and Aymen Abdennour.
They failed to make the group stages of the Champions League this season and have since bowed out of the Europa League, but Jardim's side are currently second in Ligue 1.