Fabio Capello
Fabio Capello is set to be the new Russia boss Reuters

Russia captain Andrey Arshavin claims former England boss Fabio Capello has been appointed as new coach of the Russian national team. The 66 year old has been in discussions with the Russian Football Association over the past two days with a view to succeeding Dick Advocaat. While no official announcement has been made yet, the Arsenal midfielder has welcomed the manager on his personal Web site.

"Russia's national coach has been appointed - he is Fabio Capello. We wish him success in his new job," Arshavin stated.

Capello has been out of work since he controversially quit the English managerial post in early February, after the Football Association stripped John Terry of the captaincy without consulting the Italian. The former Real Madrid boss has been linked with the Russia job in recent weeks and the country's sports minister Vitaly Mutko confirmed the Russian Football Union was holding talks with Capello about the vacant manager's post and that the former Azzurri international was one of several candidates shortlisted for the job.

"They received Capello today (Thursday), and conducted negotiations. From here, we move on to the next candidate. I think that over the course of a week - certainly by next Tuesday - all the consultations with the managers on our list will be held," Sky Sports quoted Mutko as saying.

Mutko also said he believed Capello was an ideal candidate to become the manager of Russia and could prove as successful an appointment as Guus Hiddink, who guided the team to the semi finals of Euro 2008.

"I think he would be a good option. This person knows how to win. When we decided on Guus Hiddink [in 2006], the first thing we looked at was the coach's ability to win," the Daily Mail quoted Mutko as saying.

England won 28 games during Capello's four-year reign, drawing eight and losing six. The Italian has enjoyed an extremely successful managerial career to date. He has five Serie A titles (four with AC Milan and one with Roma; he also won the league twice with Juventus but those were later revoked as part of the Calciopoli scandal). He has also two La Liga titles (both with Real Madrid) and a Champions League crown (with Milan).