Luis Enrique accepts Roma role

AS Roma have turned to former Real Madrid CF, FC Barcelona and Spain midfielder Luis Enrique as their new head coach, giving the 41-year-old his first chance to take charge of a top-flight club.

Enrique, who left his previous job as coach of Barcelona B at the end of a season in which they finished third in Spain's second division, has agreed a two-year contract having arrived in Rome on Thursday. "We chose him because he is young and he wants to improve," said the Giallorossi's sporting director Walter Sabatini.

The one-time Real Sporting de Gijón prodigy explained his decision to quit the set-up at Barça – where he played for eight years after leaving Real Madrid, and with whose B team he won promotion in 2009/10 – for a new challenge in the Italian capital. "Roma's target is to win and that is why I chose this club," Enrique said. "I am a winner, otherwise I wouldn't have left my job in Spain and my family.

"I want to play attacking football," added Enrique, who was welcomed by captain Francesco Totti when he first visited Roma's training ground on Thursday. "I want people to come and see us at the stadium. Maybe nobody knows me at the moment, but in a year's time everybody will."

He succeeds Vincenzo Montella in the Roma hot seat, the former Giallorossi forward having guided the side to sixth place in Serie A after replacing Claudio Ranieri midway through the campaign.