Egypt’s Shehata may coach Qatar’s al-Arabi

Egyptian soccer coach Hassan Shehata is close to taking charge of the Qatari side al-Arabi, the club said in a statement on its official website on Friday.

Shehata will replace Frenchman Pierre Lechantre, the statement read, adding that talks with Shehata will be opened “in the next few hours”

Shehata left Egyptian giant Zamalek in July, after the team failed to qualify for the African Champions League semi-final.

Considered as one of Egypt’s greatest-ever coaches, Shehata had guided the Egyptian national team to three successive African Nations Cup triumphs in 2006, 2008 and 2010.