Former Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has agreed to leave Zenit St Petersburg by mutual consent.
The 53-year-old has been heavily linked with the vacant manager’s job of the Italian national team.
Former Inter Milan boss Mancini took charge of Zenit in June 2017, and they are fifth in the Russian Premier League
“Zenit and Roberto Mancini agree to an early end to the manager’s contract,” the club said in a statement.
“The contract will be terminated by mutual consent without any compensation payable.”
Mancini began his managerial career at Fiorentina who were cash-stricken at the time. At 35, he won a Coppa Italia with Fiorentina, but left with the team facing bankruptcy.
Months later he took over as manager at Lazio, where again he inherited financial constraints and was forced to lose a number of key players.
READ: Arsenal contact Arteta, Vieira to replace Arsene Wenger
With limited resources during his two-season tenure, he guided the club to another Coppa Italia.
In 2004, Mancini was given the chance to manage a major club with more resources when he was offered the manager’s job at Inter.
During his first tenure at Inter, the club won three consecutive Serie A titles, an Inter club record, and an Italian record 17 consecutive league game victories stretching nearly half a season; Mancini became Inter’s most successful manager in 30 years.
Despite his domestic success, many pundits saw the repeated failure to win the coveted Champions League as the main reason for his dismissal in 2008.
After being out of football for over a year, Mancini was appointed Manchester City manager in December 2009.
Under his stewardship, he instilled a winning culture at the club taking Manchester City from a mid-table club to the pinnacle of English football, combining defensive solidity with attacking flair.
In the 2010–11 season, his first full season at Manchester City, Mancini guided the club to Champions League football and the FA Cup.
In the 2011–12 season, Mancini guided Manchester City to the club’s first league title in 44 years in an enthralling last day of the season, winning 3–2, with two goals in injury time in what was called “the best match of the best last day of the season in English football history.”
