Serie A giants Roma have announced that manager Jose Mourinho has been relieved of his duties after two-and-a-half years in charge.
The former Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur head coach departs after a three-game winless run, culminating in a 3-1 defeat to AC Milan in Sunday's top-flight clash.
Roma were dumped out of the Coppa Italia by Lazio four days before their San Siro defeat and have amassed just 29 points from their opening 20 Serie A fixtures, sitting ninth in the rankings as a result.
The Giallorossi are 22 points worse off than leaders Inter Milan, five behind Fiorentina in fourth place and four adrift of Lazio in sixth spot, having won just one of their final five games under Mourinho.
Roma's loss at San Siro at the weekend also marked their fourth successive away defeat in all competitions, and the Italian giants also finished second behind Slavia Prague in their Europa League group.
A knockout-round playoff tie with Feyenoord - whom they beat in the 2021-22 Europa Conference League final - is on the cards for next month, but Roma have taken the decision to sack Mourinho, who has overseen their worst start to a Serie A season after 20 games since 2002-03.
A statement from the Giallorossi read: "AS Roma can confirm that José Mourinho and his coaching staff will leave the club with immediate effect. Further updates on the new First Team coaching staff will follow imminently."
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Roma owners Dan Friedkin and Ryan Friedkin also issued a personal note of gratitude to the 60-year-old, adding: "We would like to thank Jose on behalf of all of us at AS Roma for his passion and efforts since his arrival at the club.
"We will always have great memories of his tenure at Roma, but we believe that an immediate change is in the best interests of the club. We wish Jose and his assistants all the best in their future endeavours."
Mourinho was hired by Roma in May 2021, shortly after being given the boot by Tottenham, and he departs Stadio Olimpico with a record of 68 wins, 30 draws and 40 defeats from 130 matches in charge.
That tally includes just 44 wins from 96 Serie A matches, putting Mourinho at the bottom of the points-per-game list for Roma managers to have overseen at least 50 top-flight fixtures with 1.61.
As well as leading the Giallorossi to Europa Conference League glory in his debut season, Mourinho took Roma to the final of the Europa League last season, in which they were beaten on penalties by perennial winners Sevilla.
However, Mourinho could only achieve back-to-back sixth-placed finishes in Serie A, and Roma's plight this term comes in spite of notable acquisitions in the transfer market such as Romelu Lukaku and Paulo Dybala.
Roma are believed to have approached another erstwhile Tottenham coach in Antonio Conte over the manager's job, but the Italian has supposedly rejected the Giallorossi's advances, while rumoured target Xabi Alonso also has no plans to depart Bayer Leverkusen.
Roma's first game since Mourinho's departure comes at home to Hellas Verona on Saturday evening.
Ben Knapton
