Croatian Miroslav Blazevic is set to take over the Chinese Under-23 soccer team and become China's most expensive head coach of a national side, Titan Sports reported on Monday.

Criticized after the Under-23 team's frustrating performance at the Guangzhou Asian Games, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) has apparently wasted little time in replacing coach Sun Wei with Blazevic, who led Shanghai Shenhua to third place in this year's China Super League.

Besides his role with the Under-23 team, the 73-year-old will also assist Gao Hongbo, head coach of the Chinese national team, as the squad's technical advisor.

With a rich coaching history, highlighted by taking Croatia to third place at the 1998 World Cup in France, Blazevic stood out from several candidates such as German Krautzun Eckhard and Frenchman Philippe Troussier. Meanwhile, the CFA refused to confirm Blazevic's appointment and said a press conference would be held soon to announce its final decision on the Under-23 coach.

The newspaper also said the CFA was short of capital to cover the Croatian's high salary, but was making efforts to seek sponsorship.

Blazevic was paid 700,000 euros ($913,871) a year at Shanghai Shenhua, while Bora Milutinovic, who led China to the 2002 World Cup final, only took an annual salary of $250,000 during his tenure.

China Daily