Nigel Pearson returns to King Power fold as manager of Oud-Heverlee Leuven

Former Leicester manager Nigel Pearson was appointed this morning to lead Belgian side Oud-Heverlee Leuven. The Proximus League side were purchased by the King Power group last June after the club had become embroiled in a player third-party ownership scandal. The club’s chairman is Leicester vice-chariman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha , the son of Leicester City chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

This is Pearson’s first job since leaving Derby County after clashing with Rams owner Mel Morris nearly a year ago. The former Foxes manager had this to say about reuniting with his old bosses:

'I'm delighted to be back in football, to be working with King Power again and to be applying my experiences to the development of a club in a really exciting position. I know from experience how King Power will want to go about developing every aspect of OHL and I'm really looking forward to trying to help the club realise some of its ambitions going forward.'

Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images

Leuven are currently fourth-placed in the Proximus League, Belgium’s second division. Pearson will hit the ground running, having his first training session with his new club tomorrow morning prior to facing division-leading Beerschot Wilrijk on Sunday. This is Pearson’s first managerial appointment outside of England.