Zamalek president Mortada Mansour has announced that he reached an agreement with Serbian coach Aleksandar Stanojevic to take charge of the team in the coming season.

“Stanojevic will arrive in Egypt on Friday to sign his contract and start his job with the team,” Mansour told a television programme in the early hours of Thursday.

The Whites have been on a quest to hire a new manager following the departure of Swiss tactician Christian Gross who led the team to its first ever Confederation Cup title in May.

Khaled Galal took over the team but was dismissed in August after losing the league title to arch-rivals Ahly. Former Zamalek icon Tarek Yehia is currently in charge as caretaker coach and will lead the team in their first game in the preliminary round of the CAF Champions League against Dekedaha of Somalia.

Argentinean coach Ramon Diaz was the leading figure on Zamalek’s shortlist, but on Wednesday Mansour announced that negotiations collapsed on personal terms.

Stanojevic was next on the list and he agreed to take the job.

The 45-year-old Serbian coach Stanojevic started his coaching career as a head coach was of Serbian First League club FK Srem. He was appointed as head coach of the Serbian national under-19 team that finished third in the 2009 European Under-19 Championship in Ukraine.

Stanojevic was in charge of Greek side PAOK FC in 2017, but his tenure as manager did not last long due to poor performance in friendlies and issues of squad management and harmony, according to the club’s statement at the time.

In May 2018 Stanojevic signed a one year contract with Saudi Professional League club Al-Qadsiah, but his contract was terminated in November as the team won only four points out of eight league matches.