Mbappe family hands ex-Arsenal star his first managerial position

Tom Weber

• 29 Dec 2025 13:01 CST
• 3 min read

News

The family of Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe has appointed former Arsenal defender Gael Clichy as the head coach of SM Caen.

The captain of the French national team acquired the former Ligue 1 club after they had fallen on tough times financially, but this initial feel-good story quickly turned into a nightmare.

Mbappe's ownership of Caen has come in for fierce criticism from supporters and even former players. Record scorer Alexandre Mendy, who now plays for Montpellier, heavily criticised club chiefs for not allowing him to pursue a move to Sunderland last year.

Mbappe's first season in charge of Caen ended in the club suffering relegation from Ligue 2 to the third-tier National. In November, Malherbe were bounced from the Coupe de France by sixth-tier Bayeux, which sparked a fan revolt that required security forces and police to step in.

At the time, Caen were languishing in mid-table no man's land in the league, and their position hasn't markedly improved since. Recent results haven't been terrible, but still not good enough for a team looking to get promoted at the first time of asking.

Caen appoint Clichy

Caen are currently 10th in the National, six points adrift of the promotion playoff spot and 10 points off an automatic promotion place. On Monday, exactly one year after sacking Nicolas Seube, Caen announced that they had again made a coaching change, dismissing Maxime d’Ornano.

His replacement has already been confirmed, and it's a surprising name to say the least. Caen have hired former Arsenal and Man City full-back Gael Clichy to take charge of the team.

This will be the 40-year-old's first head coaching job in football after previously serving as an assistant for the French U21 national team. Clichy was also part of Thierry Henry's coaching staff at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

The former France international could hardly have asked for a tougher first managerial position. The pressure to be successful in the second half of what has until now been a disastrous season will be immense.

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