Sociedad coach Montanier to leave for Rennes

MADRID (AFP) –

Real Sociedad’s then coach, Frenchman Philippe Montanier (L), gives a press conference with the club’s president Jokin Aperribay in the northern Spanish Basque city of San Sebastian on June 8, 2011. Montanier will leave Sociedad at the end of this season to take over at French Ligue 1 club Rennes, it was confirmed on Tuesday.

Philippe Montanier will leave Spanish side Real Sociedad at the end of this season to take over at French Ligue 1 club Rennes, it was confirmed on Tuesday.

Real Sociedad revealed earlier on Tuesday that Montanier, 48, would leave the Basque club at the end of the current season after rejecting their offer of a new contract.

And a short while later Rennes confirmed that the Frenchman would take over at the Stade de la Route de Lorient as of July 1, accompanied by his assistant Michel Troin.

Montanier is in his second season at the helm at Anoeta, and has led Real Sociedad to fourth place in La Liga with two games to spare.

La Real, the club from the Basque city of San Sebastian who were two-time champions in 1981 and 1982, are currently level on points with fifth-placed Valencia, but will qualify for the Champions League play-offs if they can hold on to fourth.

Rennes have not yet commented on the length of contract offered to Montanier, although reports in the French press have indicated he would sign a three-year deal to replace Frederic Antonetti, who will leave at the end of the campaign.

Before moving to Spain in 2011, Montanier took minnows Boulogne from the fourth tier of French football to Ligue 1 in the space of four seasons and then enjoyed a two-season stint at Valenciennes.