Coach Villas-Boas leaves Shanghai SIPG after rocky year in China

League (CSL) to Guangzhou Evergrande and lost in the semifinals of the Asian Champions League.

“SIPG and the players have achieved success, progress and also had some regrets,” said a club statement, thanking Villas-Boas.

“We announce that SIPG and Mr Villas-Boas will part ways towards their respective goals.”

Villas-Boas was touted as the next Jose Mourinho when he left Porto to take over at Chelsea in July 2011.

But he was sacked eight months after arriving at Stamford Bridge and went on to take charge of Tottenham Hotspur and then Zenit Saint Petersburg in Russia.

He joined ambitious SIPG in November 2016, reportedly charged with winning at least one title at a team that already had striker Hulk and went on to sign fellow Brazilian international Oscar from Chelsea for an Asian-record 60 million euros.

Villas-Boas retained the support of some SIPG fans even as the trophy hunt faltered.

But he clashed with the CFA on several occasions over their running of the game and some media accused him of being arrogant and disrespectful.

He was banned for two games in June for a social media post supporting Oscar, who had been hit with an eightmatch ban for starting a brawl during a CSL match.

Then in September Villas-Boas was also banned for eight matches after “insulting” a referee.

He had become increasingly irritable as the season wore on, making several subtle criticisms of the CFA and saying he was holding back saying more because he did not want to be banned again.