Coach Laurent Blanc has left ambitious Paris Saint-Germain, the French newspaper L'Equipe said Thursday, with Unai Emery hot favourite to succeed him.

The departure of Blanc, whose position has looked increasingly tenuous after he failed to guide the French side beyond the Champions League quarter-finals, opens the way for Emery, who has been heavily linked with the post and left Sevilla last week.

Blanc, who signed a two-year contract extension in February, won the domestic treble in each of his last two seasons with PSG. But it was his failure to make substantial progress in the Champions League that proved his undoing.

There was no official confirmation from PSG on the fate of Blanc, who took over in 2013 after two years in charge of the French national side.

However, on Monday Blanc's agent said the former international defender would leave the club this week.
"We're in discussions with PSG directors and it's being done in an excellent atmosphere from both sides," Jean-Pierre Bernes told French radio station Europe 1.

"Simply put, there are rules that need to be respected to end a contract and PSG are respecting those."

Nasser Al-Khelaifi, PSG's Qatari chairman, all but said Blanc was gone earlier this month when he told the Le Parisien newspaper: "The players, the coach, the management, we need turnover, a new cycle."

The Spaniard Emery would be a popular choice among fans of PSG.

Emery led Sevilla to the Europa League title in each of his three full seasons at the club since joining them in January 2013.

The 44-year-old has also coached Valencia, Spartak Moscow and Almeria.