Andre Villas Boas could easily have joined a renowned European Club after parting ways with Tottenham Hotspur.

He has been regarded as a very exciting young manager in Europe and thus, needless to say that he had had the representatives of a lot of clubs calling him once he left the White Hart Lane, but, the 37-year old remained disinterested towards all those offers and that’s because he did not want to go to a place again where he would be working in immense pressure and media scrutiny.

Villas Boas was looking for a place where he could be given some time and allowed to work in peace.

And, that’s why; the Portuguese chose Zenit St. Petersburg above all the big, flashy names that he had in front of him.

ZenitSaint Petersburg is on their way of taking the Russian Premier League title away from the hands of CSKA Moscow with the team of Andre Villas-Boas currently located at the top of the Russian League after going through an impressive start of the league which has seen Zenit only losing 1 match out of the 13 games that have been played.

However, not everything is going in favor of Zenit Saint Petersburg as the Russian club is struggling trying to grab a qualifying spot into the last 16 teams in the Champions League after having sustained successive defeats against Bayer Leverkusen.

QPR midfielder Adel Taarabt has once again continued his war of words with manager Harry Redknapp by claiming that he does not know why he is not being selected for the matches.

The enigmatic Morocco winger has not started for the club since August. He is also looking unlikely to change that in the coming weeks since QPR appear to have found form at just the right stage. They have played extremely well in the matches against Chelsea and Liverpool. Redknapp recently criticised the winger for being not fit for selection, but Adel Taarabt hit back by saying that the manager did not have any idea about his fitness.

"Initially, it's a difficult situation for me. When you buy new players for a lot of money, they have an advantage because they will play. But we've got a long season ahead of us and we'll see what happens. When I am in top shape, I am a perfect fit for the Arsenal team and I see myself in the first XI. That's what I work towards. I am not sure but I hope that that's the case." Arsenal’s Lukas Podolski said after Danny Welbeck completed his move to Arsenal a few weeks ago.

Zenit St Petersburg moved one step closer towards securing a place in the group stages of the Champions League after getting a 1-0 win over Standard Liège in the qualifying match. Despite this victory, manager Andre Villas-Boas has said that the players should not lose focus ahead of the return leg at home. The away goal scored by Shatov in the 16th minute gives the Russian club a huge advantage in the second leg at home. Andre Villas-Boas, who has limited experience managing clubs in the Champions League, will be looking forward to making an appearance in the group stages.

Ashley Cole is not a Chelsea player any more. After remaining at the West London club for as many as 8 seasons, the 33-year old has finally made his way away.

His contract at the Stamford Bridge is finished. So, the clubs around the world can sign him on a free transfer now.

There have been reports of a couple of Major League Soccer clubs being interested in him.

Former Manchester United target Nicolas Gaitan is reportedly close to an agreement regarding a move to Russian heavyweights Zenit St. Petersburg.

According to the Portuguese and Russian media, the Russian club, currently managed by former FC Porto manager Andre Villas Boas is keen on adding star names to their squad to increase their global profile and has earmarked the Argentine winger as one of the key players to rope in ahead of the new season of the UEFA Champions League.

Although no bid has been made from the club for the player, reports suggest that there is already an agreement regarding a move with the player and a bid will be made in due course.

Russia’s national team boss Fabio Capello has stated that the country should limit the number of foreign players being allowed in the domestic leagues in order to benefit the national team. Russia has seen a tremendous growth in the number of foreign players due to the wealth of its club owners. They have managed to bring in star names like Hulk on massive transfer fees and wages. This has been detrimental to the national team, as there has been a reduction in the number of top players available for selection.

Andrei Arshavin came to Arsenal in 2009 with a lot of promise, as he became the club’s record signing back then. He did seem worthy of the transfer fee during the first two years at the club.

He was instrumental in scoring and assisting goals, as Arsenal took advantage of his incredible versatility to start and end matches extremely well. However, the enthusiasm appeared to go away from his game in the last few years. This led to his return to Russian football with Zenit St Petersburg. Since his return, he has been a regular first-team player for the club.

Clarence Seedorf is going through his first season as manager of a club as he was offered the chance to guide Ac.Milan to success or at least to rescue them from their recent disastrous campaign.

There is a lot of talk concerning Manchester United in the Premier League but in the Serie A, there is a club that is doing significantly worse than David Moyes team and that is AC Milan.

The Italian team is struggling just to keep them themselves in the top 15 spots of Serie A and Seedorf so far is having a fairly neutral campaign with almost the same amount of victories and losses since taking over the club.