Claude Makelele joins Swansea as Paul Clement begins to reshape Premier League strugglers
The former Chelsea, Real Madrid and PSG midfielder joins on a deal until the end of the season
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Your support makes all the difference.Claude Makelele has joined Swansea City's coaching staff and will be in the dugout for the team's Premier League game against Arsenal on Saturday.
The former France international joins up with new manager Paul Clement who he worked with as a player at Chelsea and then as a coach at Paris Saint-Germain.
A club statement explained that Makelele, 43, has joined as an assistant coach on a deal until the end of the season.
Makelele, who won two Premier League trophies with Chelsea and a World Cup runners-up medal with France, will join fellow new recruits Nigel Gibbs and Karl Halabi at the Liberty stadium.
Swansea have conceded the most goals in Premier League this season and Clement will be hoping Makelele can instil some of the defensive solidity he embodied during his playing days into the current squad.
Clement's short reign at Swansea has already proved controversial, with club stalwart Alan Curtis being relieved of coaching duties by text message.
While the club subsequently explained that Curtis would be offered a job elsewhere in the club - in what appeared to be a U-turn - some fans were upset at the treatment of a man who has served the club for over four decades following the appointment of Clement just days before.
Nevertheless, as the manager's new team takes shape he will be hoping the club's fortunes improve after a long but slow decline under previous regimes.
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