Marcelo Bielsa has agreed to take over at Lille on a two-year contract which begins on July 1, 2017.
Bielsa, 61, has been without a club since leaving Lazio just two days after his appointment as coach last summer.
�� Accord entre le #LOSC et Marcelo #Bielsa. Le technicien argentin sera l'entraîneur du LOSC à compter du 01/07 ⤵️https://t.co/PCZkLzaJWv
- LOSC (@losclive) February 19, 2017
Lille have been without a permanent first-team coach since Frederic Antonetti was relieved of his duties in November. His assistant, Patrick Collot, initially took charge before being replaced by Franck Passi until the end of the season.
Passi, 50, was caretaker boss at Marseille last season and worked as an assistant to Bielsa when the Argentine coach was in charge of the southern giants between May 2014 and August 2015.
Lille director Marc Ingla said on his club's website: "Marcelo Bielsa is undoubtedly one of the most respected and influential coaches in the world and succeeding in attracting him to LOSC is an immense satisfaction, and proof of the ambitions of our club.
"It is no secret that Gerard Lopez and Marcelo Bielsa are close and have been discussing this opportunity for some time. We always thought that Marcelo was the best person, both for his football philosophy and his experience, rigor and professionalism, to build with us the project and the future success of LOSC."
Lille were bought by Lopez, a former president of Formula One team Lotus who has been seeking a high-profile coach to lead his project, last year. And he told RMC that he was optimistic about hiring Bielsa.
The former Argentina and Chile coach enjoys an excellent reputation in France for his work at Marseille during the 2014-15 season when his side played some of the best football in Ligue 1.