Former Chelsea boss Villas-Boas rules out return to England

Rob Conlon
Andre Villas-Boas: Manager spent two years in the Premier League

Andre Villas-Boas admits managing in the Premier League was harder than he expected and has ruled out a return to England.

The 38-year-old is set to leave Zenit Saint Petersburg at the end of the season but his next job will not be back in England, following his previous experience.

“No I think my time has been done there. It didn’t go as well as I expected, apart from the first year at Tottenham, so I will look forward to trying other leagues,” the Portuguese told BT Sport after his side’s 1-0 defeat at Benfica in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

Asked where he might go, he added: ”I don’t know, hopefully something good.”

Villas-Boas was sacked by Chelsea in March 2012 less than 10 months into a three-year contract as the Blues struggled to finish in the top four.

He was appointed Tottenham manager that summer and guided Spurs to a fifth-placed finish in the Premier League, missing fourth spot, and a Champions League place, by just one point.

In December 2013 Villas-Boas left White Hart Lane shortly after a 6-0 defeat at Manchester City and a 5-0 home loss to Liverpool. He departed the club with the highest percentage of league wins of any manager in the club’s Premier League era.

Villas-Boas will have been Zenit manager for two years next month. He won the Russian Premier League in his first full season but his time at the club has turned sour and earlier this campaign he served a six-game ban for assaulting a match official.

Zenit, currently midway through a domestic winter break, coasted through their Champions League group this season with five wins from six matches but they are currently sixth in the Russian Premier League, seven points behind CSKA Moscow.