Former Italy's boss, Roberto Donadoni, may become the new coach of CSKA Moscow as the club looks for a replacement for the retired Valery Gazzaev, Russia’s Sport Express newspaper reports.

Donadoni and CSKA’s CEO, Roman Babaev, held negotiations in Rome on Wednesday, which seems to make the Italian the number one contender for the job.

“There are a lot of rumors about our new head coach and I am not going to comment on them. I can only say that we are considering a number of candidates at the moment. I think we will announce the name of the new coach before New Year,” Babaev said.

Donadoni started his coaching career back in 2001. He managed Serie A mid-table teams Lecco, Livorno and Genoa. In 2006 he was appointed Italy’s boss. The national team qualified for Euro 2008 under him, but could only reach the quarter-finals of the tournament. Moreover, Italy suffered their biggest defeat in over 25 years going down 3-0 against the Netherlands in the group stage.

Donadoni resigned after the tournament and since then has been looking for a job.

CSKA finished second in the Russian Premier League this season and have qualified for the knockout stage of the UEFA Cup finishing first in their group, winning all of their matches.

Other possible candidatess linked with CSKA in recent weeks are Brazil’s national team manager Dunga, ex-Barcelona boss Frank Rijkaard and Krylia Sovietov coach Leonid Slutsky.