Cesc Fabregas gets first job as manager of Italian club, months after retiring from playing

Former Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas has been named interim manager of Italian side Como.

Fabregas, 36, succeeds Moreno Longo for his first senior management role.

He played 17 times for the Serie B side last season before retiring from playing and becoming coach of their youth and reserve teams.

A statement said the club wants to “embark on a new path that hopefully will provide more excitement and entertainment for the fans”.

It added that a permanent appointment will be made in the “near future”.

Fabregas first match in charge will be at home to Feralpisalo after the international break on 25 November.

Como are sixth in the table with 21 points from their first 12 games.

Fabregas joined Como in August 2022 after leaving Monaco, also becoming a shareholder of the club alongside former Arsenal and Barcelona team-mate Thierry Henry.

Former Chelsea and England midfielder Dennis Wise is club president after initially joining as technical consultant in May 2019.

Fabregas played 212 Premier League matches with Arsenal between 2004 and 2011 before moving to Barcelona, where he had joined the club’s La Masia academy aged 10 in 1997.

Following three years with Barcelona, he returned to the Premier League in 2014 with Chelsea where he played just under 200 games.

He then made 68 appearances in three and a half years with Monaco but his playing time was limited by injuries.

The former midfielder earned 110 caps for Spain and won the European Championship twice, in 2008 and 2012, and the country’s first World Cup in South Africa in 2010.