Capello ready to say arrivederci?

Fabio Capello looks set to become the latest foreign coaching casualty in the Chinese Super League, with the esteemed Italian reportedly on the brink of exiting Jiangsu Suning.

According to Chinese weekly Titan Sports, the former AC Milan, Real Madrid, Juventus and England boss is in dispute with the Nanjing club's management after its mediocre start to the season and has told his employers he wants to leave.

Jiangsu has collected just three points from its opening three games.

Capello would become the second CSL bench boss to leave his job this season, following Ma Lin's axing by Dalian Yifang.

There is no indication as to who might succeed the 71-year-old Capello, who arrived at Jiangsu last June.

He steered the team to a 12th-place finish out of 16 teams last term, and begun this season brightly with a 3-1 win at Guizhou Zicheng, but followed that with a 2-1 home loss against Beijing Guo'an and a 4-1 humbling at Chongqing Lifan.

Still, news of Capello's imminent departure comes as something of a shock.

Speaking in Dubai in December, he said he planned to see out his 18-month contract, which pays a salary of around $11.8 million and expires at the end of this season.

"I spoke with the chairman and I do not plan to renew. I will finish the season as per my contract," Capello told Xinhua.

Despite the team's indifferent results, Jiangsu fans have been impressed by Capello's decision to start a host of under-23 Chinese players, including promising 21-year-old forward Huang Zichang, in the absence of injured Brazilian midfielder Ramires.

Capello boasts a glittering CV of Serie A, La Liga and Champions League successes with some of Europe's most glamorous clubs: Milan, Roma, Juventus and Madrid.

At international level, he qualified England for the 2010 World Cup, although his team failed to advance beyond the last 16 in South Africa.

He resigned from the England job in 2012 because of a dispute with the Football Association and was later appointed coach of Russia, where he had three disappointing years in charge before being fired in 2015.

If his departure from Jiangsu is confirmed, Capello will follow Portuguese Andre Villas-Boas as the latest big-name foreign coach to fail in the CSL.

The Portuguese former Chelsea and Tottenham boss 'China stint lasted just over a year after a trophyless season at big-spending Shanghai SIPG last term.

Meanwhile, Marcello Lippi's tenure as China's national team coach does not appear too secure after 6-0 and 4-1 defeats to Wales and the Czech Republic last week have led to some fans to call for the Italian's resignation.