Rafael Benítez has been confirmed as the new manager of Napoli by the Italian club's president, Aurelio de Laurentiis.

De Laurentiis referred to Benítez as "a great man" and "a leader" after announcing that the former Chelsea interim manager would replace Walter Mazzarri at the Stadio San Paolo. The Spaniard was pictured shaking hands with De Laurentiis on the president's Twitter account.

De Laurentiis wrote: "Rafa Benítez is the new coach of Napoli. A great man with international experience. A leader."

Benítez said: "Now that the agreement is confirmed, I can say I am very happy and very satisfied for having committed to a great club with an illustrious heritage like Napoli. I understand the history of the city and how the club forms a fundamental part of the culture and traditions of Naples.

"I must confess that I am extremely excited. We will begin from the start as we mean to go on and we will fight to achieve success for the fans."

The first job for Benítez, who was also linked with the managerial vacancies at Real Madrid, will be attempting to keep hold of the Uruguayan forward Edinson Cavani, who is expected to move away from Italy this summer.

Benítez quickly emerged as the favourite to replace Mazzarri, who resigned from the Serie A runners-up a week ago and was appointed as Internazionale's coach on Friday.

The 53-year-old led Chelsea to Europa League victory and third place in the Premier League after replacing Roberto Di Matteo in November. He won the European Cup while at Liverpool in 2005 and the FA Cup in 2006, both on penalties. This year's Europa League win was his second in the competition after he won it with Valencia in 2004.

Mazzarri guided Napoli to the Coppa Italia in 2012 and second place this term in Serie A was their best finish since they won the Scudetto in 1990, and saw them qualify for next season's Champions League.