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Laurent Blanc extends Paris Saint-Germain deal through to 2018

Paris Saint-Germain manager Laurent Blanc has put an end to speculation over his future by signing a new two-year contract with the French champions.

PSG announced the news in a statement published on their website at 7 a.m. on Thursday morning.

The club said that Blanc, 50, had put pen to paper at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, a few hours before his side beat Lyon 3-0 in the last 16 of the Coupe de France.

Blanc was in the final few months of his current deal and had been discussing a fresh agreement since the end of last year.

PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi has now given the former France boss a massive vote of confidence before the Ligue 1 leaders take on Chelsea in the last 16 of the Champions League next week.

"It is with great pleasure that I have just extended my contract as coach of Paris Saint-Germain," Blanc said.

"I would like to thank the club for the faith that has been put in me. Since the beginning, I have felt honoured to work for such an ambitious club and it is extremely satisfying to coach such talented players.

"I hope that I can continue to make Paris Saint-Germain a brilliant and respected ambassador of French football."

Blanc will now be tied to the club until the summer of 2018, something which Al-Khelaifi said he was "extremely proud and happy to see."

"Over the past three years, our coach and his staff are writing with their team a glorious page of the club's history, winning trophies and setting records," the PSG chairman and CEO said.

"All conditions are clearly there to opt for stability. I always trusted him as well as believed in his ability to keep taking our team higher each season, while at the same time having them play a beautiful style of football that our fans, and football fans in general, really enjoy."

After taking over from Carlo Ancelotti in June 2013, Blanc led PSG to back-to-back league titles and has become the club's most successful ever manager.

Last season PSG completed a clean sweep of the domestic prizes on offer, meaning Blanc has won eight trophies since starting work in the French capital.

The ex-Bordeaux manager was not PSG's first choice before being appointed as manager and their failure to get beyond the quarterfinal stage of the Champions League had put him under pressure.

But Blanc won his doubters over by cultivating an attractive style of football and proving capable of managing a dressing room packed with star names.

His side have been even more dominant in France this season. They are currently 24 points clear at the top of Ligue 1, have reached the Coupe de la Ligue final again and are still standing in the Coupe de France as well.