A two-year contract deal and local assistants are the reasons which convinced the Senegalese football association to appoint Frenchman Pierre Lechantre as Senegal’s new coach, association president Augustin Senghor said on Tuesday.

Lechantre was declared Senegal’s new coach on Friday, after former coach Amara Traore was removed following Senegal’s poor results in the last African Cup of Nations.

The former Cameroon coach was shortlisted with his compatriot Bruno Metsu, who helped Senegal to reach the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup.

"Metsu demanded foreign assistants, whereas Lechantre agreed to work with Senegalese assistants," Senghor was quoted as saying by Senegalese newspaper Le Soleil.

"Lechantre also accepted a two-year contract. Our target does not extend beyond these two years, which include the 2013 African Cup of Nations and the 2014 World Cup qualifiers," he added.