Villas-Boas scotches Valencia rumours with sabbatical plans
Zenit coach Andre Villas-Boas will take a year-long sabbatical from coach when he leaves Zenit at the end of the season.
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Andre Villas-Boas has claimed he will take a year out of football when he leaves Zenit at the end of the season, despite being linked with Valencia.
The Portuguese coach confirmed in September last year that he would depart Zenit at the end of the Russian Premier League season, having grown frustrated after a government-led change in squad regulations forced the sale of star striker Salomon Rondon to West Brom.
The campaign has seen Villas-Boas hit with a six-game touchline ban for confronting an official and Zenit slip to fourth in the table, facing uncertainty over Champions League qualification as a result.
Valencia will be on the look for a new coach for next season after Gary Neville was sacked last week and his former assistant Pako Ayestaran was placed in charge until the end of the campaign.
Paco Jemez and Rudi Garcia have been linked to the job, as well as Villas-Boas, who has appeared to rule himself out.
When asked if he would reconsider his plans to leave Zenit, he told the club's official website: "No, my decision is taken for the end of the season, I've booked my vacation.
"It was wonderful to be here, I'll always consider Russia my home, Zenit have been wonderful, the board and the president, Mr Miller have been wonderful to me and I can only thank them and I'm very grateful to them and the club.
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"I will go back to my family in Portugal and mostly likely stop coaching for one year, this is a decision I have taken with my family and nothing will change it."
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