Chelsea ex-boss Ancelotti set to join PSG

Paris Saint-Germain announced on Thursday evening that they will hold a press conference on Friday afternoon in which it is expected that Carlo Ancelotti will be confirmed as the club's new coach.

Former AC Milan and Chelsea boss Ancelotti has been in talks with the Ligue 1 leaders in the French capital since Wednesday afternoon, after being lined up to replace Antoine Kombouare.

PSG are thought to be keen to confirm the Italian as their new coach in time for him to fly out to the Middle East with the first-team squad on Sunday for a four-day winter training camp in Qatar and Dubai.

PSG's next competitive game is a French Cup last-64 tie away to Brittany amateur outfit Locmine on January 8.

Reports in sports daily L'Equipe and Le Parisien on Wednesday claimed that Ancelotti, twice a Champions League winner in his time with Milan, would become the best-paid coach in the history of the French game on a two-and-a-half-year deal with an annual salary of between six and seven million euros ($7.8m-9m).

The club have yet officially to confirm the sacking of Kombouare, a former player who has been in the dugout since the summer of 2009.

A statement on December 22 merely indicated that PSG and Kombouare were in "peaceful discussions."