Villas-Boas to return to coaching after Dakar?

Bengaluru, January 4: Former Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas who recently swapped dug out for a driving seat to make his Dakar Rally debut is reportedly eyeing a comeback to football coaching.

The Portuguese, who led Shanghai SIPG to second in the 2017 Chinese Super League and the semifinals of the AFC Champions League in his first year in charge surprised the football world in November by announcing his decision to quit football coaching and take the big plunge to motorsports.

Villas-Boas to race in 2018 Dakar Rally

The 40-year-old inked a deal with Team Overdrive Racing and will be seen behind the wheels of a Toyota Hilux in the 40th edition of the Dakar Rally beginning on Saturday (January 6).

Who knew?

Former Chelsea and Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas will compete in the 2018 Dakar Rally!

He has "great passion" for motor sports.

Read: https://t.co/x2wDsGAvtu pic.twitter.com/OY0mFAg9sj

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) December 28, 2017

For the next 15 days, AVB, as he is known among his peers, will be conquering the mountains, dunes and sands of Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. He will follow in the footsteps of his uncle Pedro, who took part in the Dakar Rally way back in 1982.

But the grapevine is that once the 9,000 kilometre South American adventure is over, AVB will return to his first love which has seen him coach other top-notch clubs like Porto, Tottenham Hotspur and Zenit St Petersburg.

According to British media reports, he has already emerged as the front runner to take over Championship side Sheffield Wednesday where he will replace Carlos Carvajal who switched to Premier League strugglers Swansea.

Sheffield Wednesday close to appointing Andre Villas-Boas as new manager. #swfc pic.twitter.com/2723JW1Mtn

— TRANSFERSLIVE (@TRANSFERSLIVE3) January 2, 2018

According to insiders, Sheffield Wednesday's owner Dejphon Chansiri is very keen to have AVB, who was once dubbed as 'The next Mourinho' after his success at Porto where he he had an undefeated 2010-11 season in the Primeira Liga, winning four trophies and becoming the youngest manager ever to win a European title in the process, to revive the sagging fortunes of the club.

Sheffield are currently languishing 16th in the Championship table.