McLaren named as Wolfsburg coach

We interrupt this deluge of World Cup roster updates to tell you that Wolfsburg has named former England coach Steve McLaren as its coach.

His two-year deal begins on July 1.

McClaren, 49, led FC Twente to the Dutch title in the recently-completed Eredivisie season and is thought to have held extensive talks with Wolfsburg over the weekend.

The Wolfsburg Allgemeine newspaper reported on Tuesday that McClaren had verbally agreed a deal with the club who were deposed as Bundesliga champions at the weekend by Bayern Munich.

And the club have confirmed that McClaren will become the first Englishman to take charge of a Bundesliga club, coaching a Wolfsburg side which finished eighth this season, a year after winning the title.

McClaren launched his managerial career at Middlesbrough in 2001 after serving as a trusted lieutenant to Jim Smith at Derby and then Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, where he was part of the set-up which claimed an unprecedented treble in 1999.

He endured a tough start to life on Teesside, losing each of his first four games, but by the time he left five years later, he had brought the club their first major trophy, the 2004 Carling Cup, their highest Premier League finish - seventh - and taken them to the UEFA Cup final.

A 4-0 defeat by Sevilla in Eindhoven in that final proved to be his last game in charge when the Football Association appointed him as Sven-Goran Eriksson's successor as England boss in August 2006.

However, his reign lasted just 18 games and after a 3-2 Wembley defeat by Croatia ended England's hopes of reaching the finals of Euro 2008, he was relieved of his duties.

McClaren was handed a chance to rebuild his career by Twente the following June having been advised by the late Sir Bobby Robson to gain experience abroad as he did, and has quietly and impressively done just that to the point that Wolfsburg were not his only suitors in recent weeks.

At Wolfsburg he will have the chance to work with the likes of Grafite and Edin Dzeko, whose goals took the Wolves to the 2009 title.

Coach Felix Magath moved on to Schalke immediately after that triumph and was replaced by Armin Veh, who was sacked in January because of Wolfsburg's disappointing form. Lorenz-Gunther Kostner had been in charge since then in an interim capacity.