Jose Mourinho bid farewell to Roma on Tuesday after the Serie A club dismissed the "Special One" midway through a profoundly disappointing third season in the Italian capital.
In a brief message, Mourinho simply said "Arrivederci, Roma" to supporters on social media, accompanied by an image of him holding the Europa Conference League trophy won in 2022.
Roma stated that Mourinho and his staff would leave "with immediate effect," emphasizing that it was "in the best interests of the club" following a series of poor results that left the team well behind in the Italian top flight.
Mourinho's contract was set to expire in June, and although he had frequently expressed his desire to stay on, discussions about an extension never materialized.
Rumors of his departure became more persistent after Sunday's dismal 3-1 defeat at AC Milan, which left Roma ninth in Serie A, five points away from the Champions League positions.
"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," said owners Dan and Ryan Friedkin in a statement. "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 endeavors."
The 60-year-old Portuguese was a surprising appointment in 2021; Roma's announcement of his arrival as the replacement for Paulo Fonseca came almost completely out of the blue.
He quickly became a huge fan favorite, with his image appearing on walls around Rome as supporters dreamed of an end to a trophy drought dating back to 2008.
In his first season, he guided Roma to the inaugural Conference League, a triumph that brought Mourinho to tears on the pitch and elevated him to an almost God-like figure among one of Europe's most passionate and success-starved fan bases.
He then came within a penalty shootout of winning back-to-back European finals, with Roma falling short against Sevilla in last season's Europa League.
That defeat angered both Mourinho and supporters, who attacked referee Anthony Taylor with chairs at Budapest's Ferenc Liszt airport, blaming what they deemed bad decisions that cost their team the trophy.
However, the magic between Mourinho and the fans began to wear off this term, with poor results and performances partly due to a slew of injuries and summer transfers that haven't panned out.
Roma have failed to qualify for the lucrative Champions League under Mourinho's leadership, a significant issue for a club operating under Financial Fair Play constraints struggling to balance its books.
Italian media reports suggest that former Roma captain Daniele De Rossi, a World Cup winner with Italy in 2006, is the favorite to replace Mourinho as coach.
De Rossi is another idol for Roma fans as a local boy who succeeded and played in some of the club's best teams of the last two decades, alongside fellow icon Francesco Totti.
The 40-year-old has little coaching pedigree, however, with his only job at SPAL lasting just four months last season, concluding with the team being relegated to the third-tier Serie C.
