Grégory Lorenzi will join Nice if they stay up amid uncertain summer | OneFootball

Grégory Lorenzi, Brest’s sporting director, will join Nice if the club stay up, with the scale of change at the top still unclear, according to L'Équipe.

The 42-year-old would succeed Florian Maurice if OGC Nice remain in Ligue 1. If relegated he would not take the role. Nice face Lens in the Coupe de France final on 22 May, one game from Europe yet still in danger of Ligue 2.

Lorenzi has been at Brest since 2016. In mid-March he signalled a desire for a new project after 10 years in Finistère.

He drew interest from OM and Nottingham Forest, but Nice moved first, opening talks in winter as Maurice’s end-of-season exit after two years was already no secret.

At Nice he would be joined by his brother Yannick from his Brest staff. Thierry Bonalair is not set to follow. Further tweaks to recruitment are likely, with the future of head of recruitment Frédéric Brando in question.

Lorenzi is said to have met Claude Puel, whose contract expires this summer. The club are considering extending Puel’s second spell, after four seasons in charge from 2012 to 2016.

Despite only two wins in 15 Ligue 1 matches, Puel has led Nice to the final. He would be willing to stay and has strong internal backing, notably from vice-president delegate Maurice Cohen, who could remain if no buyer emerges.

President Jean-Pierre Rivère looks far less certain to continue. He has said his mission ends in May and now serves as special adviser to the city’s new mayor Éric Ciotti. Alongside a restructuring of offices, academy changes are not excluded as a new cycle begins.

Source: L'Équipe