Claude Puel to return to Nice despite frosty history with Rivère | OneFootball

Claude Puel is set to return to Nice for a short stint, reuniting with Jean-Pierre Rivère despite their 2016 fall-out, four years after his last job. According to L'Équipe, the 64-year-old will take charge of a Ligue 1 side in free fall.

On 5 December 2021, bottom club Saint-Étienne were thrashed 5-0 at home by Rennes. Hours later Puel, then general manager and on the executive board, was stripped of first-team control, his final match in the professional game. Within days, Julien Sablé then Pascal Dupraz succeeded him and he left six months before his contract ended.

Puel previously led Nice from 2012 to 2016, finishing fourth in his first season, the club’s best placing for 37 years. He promoted more than 20 youngsters, including sons Grégoire and Paulin, gave the side a clear identity and twice qualified for Europe. Hatem Ben Arfa enjoyed a brilliant 2015-2016 with Alassane Plea and Valère Germain in a 4-4-2, again ending fourth.

There were lows, notably 17th in 2014 and 11th in 2015, and a stubborn streak before Grégoire’s sacking by Julien Fournier and Rivère in July 2015. In Puel’s last season he and Rivère barely spoke, relations broke after his 2016 exit. Rivère felt Puel might have stayed much longer without the handling of his sons, and he did not regret replacing him with Lucien Favre, whose first campaign finished third after an autumn title.

Puel remains regarded as a leading French builder of talent. His return to Nice alongside Rivère is set to be one of the early headlines of the year.

Source: L'Équipe