André Villas-Boas is the man in charge at FC Zenit

André Villas-Boas is the man charged with succeeding Luciano Spalletti at FC Zenit, the Portuguese coach agreeing a deal that ties him to the Russian Premier League club until the end of the 2015/16 campaign.

"Mr Villas-Boas will be presented in St Petersburg as Zenit's new head coach on 20 March," read a club statement. Spalletti last week parted company with the Sine-Belo-Golubye after a four-year spell that brought two domestic titles, a Russian Cup and two appearances in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages. His tenure ended after a run of just one win in 11 competitive outings, including a 4-2 defeat by Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie. Former Russia midfielder Sergei Semak was placed in interim charge upon Spalletti's departure.

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Zenit play Dortmund in Germany on Wednesday, with Villas-Boas set to be unveiled the following day, three months after leaving Tottenham Hotspur FC, where he was at the helm for 18 months. The 36-year-old started his coaching career at A. Académica de Coimbra before guiding FC Porto to a Liga, Portuguese Cup and UEFA Europa League treble in 2010/11. He fared less well in a subsequent stint at Chelsea FC, though two-and-a-half months after he departed, the Blues won the UEFA Champions League.-Source