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Villas-Boas may stay with Zenit St. Petersburg FC for next season — executive

The Portuguese manager took over Zenit in March 2014
Andre Villas-Boas FC Zenit/TASS
Andre Villas-Boas
© FC Zenit/TASS

ST. PETERSBURG, March 1. /TASS/. Andre Villas-Boas, the head coach of Russia’s Zenit St. Petersburg football club, may stay in his current capacity with the club for the next season, Maxim Mitrofanov, the director general of the club, told journalists on Tuesday.

"We have made up a list of potential candidates for the post of the club’s head coach and it includes both Russian and foreign specialists," Mitrofanov said. "It is still possible that Villa-Boas will remain with the team. Everything will be decided in the nearest future."

Villas-Boas’ agent Carlos Goncalves told TASS in late January that the Portuguese manager, whose contract with the club from Russia’s second-largest city expires this June, expressed his firm intention of fulfilling all provisions stipulated by his contract and would work with the club until the season was over.

Goncalves also said that the Portuguese coach would be considering other possible proposals concerning his future only after his contract had officially expired as he was currently focused only on the work with Zenit St. Peterburg FC.

The Portuguese manager took over Zenit in March 2014. In May 2015, Zenit won the Russian championship under Villas-Boas.

Zenit St. Petersburg is currently ranked sixth in the season of the Russian Football Premier League (RFPL), having 30 points after 18 matches it played.