AmaZulu have announced the appointment of football journeyman Pablo Franco Martin as their new manager.

The Spaniard is expected to arrive in Durban within the next couple of days to begin what is a demanding assignment.

Amazulu, who finished the last season in 12th place in the league are aiming for a top four place in the next season and they believe that Martin, the one-time boss at Getafe and a former Real Madrid assistant manager, is the man to help them deliver it.

Commenting on the Spaniard’s appointment club owner Sandile Zungu told The Sowetan: “We will sit down with him to set the targets, but one of them is that we want to finish in the top four. We are top quarter team; we want to cement our place in the top four and to compete for every cup on offer.

“There are much more specific targets that we will discuss and agree with him, specifically to participate in CAF Champions League or Confederation Cup. It is our ambition, we believe he’s appraised with those ambitions and he believes he can lead us down that path.”

Franco becomes Amazulu’s ninth coach since 2019, joining a list of recent names that includes Brandon Truter, Romain Folz and Ayanda Dlamini.

“We are absolutely delighted at the quality of parties that we interviewed, who shared with us their ideas about Usuthu,” continued Zungu.

“Usuthu is loved and seen as a very attractive prospect. We emerged with one name. A name that the players will be very happy with.

“We believe that the local league will be richer with a person of this gentleman’s calibre coming to the DStv Premiership,” he said.