Andre Villas Boas returns to management with Zenit St Petersburg

Former Tottenham and Chelsea manager Andre Villas Boas has returned to the management arena following a three month absence. The Portuguese coach has agreed a two-year deal to replace Luciano Spalletti at Russian club Zenit St Petersburg, and will officially begin work on Thursday following the club's Champions League second-leg with last year’s finalists Borussia Dortmund. Zenit have a mountain to climb having lost 4-2 at home to the German outfit three weeks ago, a result which saw Spalletti sacked.

It will be AVB’s first job in the dugout since he was harshly axed by Spurs back in December. Only last season the 36-year-old had led the north London club to their highest ever Premier League points total, however after his new £100m worth of signings failed to gel, chairman Daniel Levy ruthlessly pulled the trigger.

AVB had previously endured a torrid nine-month spell in charge of Chelsea, but will now no doubt be looking forward to a new challenge in Russia. The former Porto boss will take charge of Zenit for the first time on Monday when his new side lock horns with Krylya Sovetov. The four-times Russian champions have only won one of their last seven league matches, which has seen them drop to second behind table toppers Lokomotiv Moscow, with nine games left to play.