Marco Silva has resigned as coach of Hull City, the relegated club announced on Thursday.
Hull said they had offered for Silva to stay on in the Championship next season, but the Portuguese manager opted to leave his position after just four and a half months at the KCOM Stadium.
A club statement said: "Unfortunately, after considering his future, he has chosen to leave in order to further his career and departs along with assistant head coach Joao Pedro Sousa, first-team coach Goncalo Pedro and goalkeeping coach Hugo Oliveira.
"Although disappointed by Marco's departure, we would once again like to place on record our appreciation of his efforts and those of his support staff. Despite only being in charge for a short period of time, the 39-year-old became a firm fans' favourite and will be forever remembered for his efforts to maintain our Premier League status.
"The Club will now undertake a thorough and considered recruitment process to appoint a replacement."
��◾️ | Marco Silva has opted to leave his position as Head Coach.
Full Statement ➡ https://t.co/pmzt0YTTsz pic.twitter.com/5SXPL9JL8C
- Hull City (@HullCity) May 25, 2017
Silva has been widely linked with a move to take over Porto, but sources told ESPN FC earlier on Thursday that Crystal Palace are attempting to scupper the move and bring him aboard to replace Sam Allardyce, who resigned on Tuesday.
Porto were in pole position to land Silva after holding talks with him earlier this week about replacing Nuno Espirito Santo, who stepped down from his role on Monday.
Watford have also shown an interest in Silva as they look to bring in a replacement for Walter Mazzarri.
Tigers vice-chairman Ehab Allam told Sky Sports News: "The way the contract was structured meant there would be one year left on his contract had we stayed in the Premier League -- but with relegation unfortunately he had the option to go.
"He's been fantastic for us but I accept he's a better calibre manager than the Championship. I understand why he wants to stay in the Premier League or go to a big European club with the prospect of Champions League football. We'd love him to stay. We're very sad to lose him but I respect why he's taken the decision."
The news is a bitter blow to Tigers fans, who made it clear they wanted Silva to stay during and after Sunday's 7-1 rout by Tottenham.
Silva's appointment was widely questioned when he replaced the sacked Mike Phelan in January with the Tigers seemingly doomed to the drop. But the the former Sporting Lisbon and Olympiakos boss led the club to the brink of safety after a run of six wins from seven unbeaten home games in April.
Victory against Watford at the KCOM on April 22 extended his unbeaten home record as manager at four different clubs to 41 games. But that run was halted at the worst possible time in their next game at the KCOM by already-relegated Sunderland and the Tigers went on to concede 11 goals in their last two matches.
Hull are now set to be in the hunt for their fourth manager in less than 12 months following the departures of Steve Bruce, Phelan and Silva.
"We attained 21 points in 18 games [under Silva] and if we'd had that through the [whole] season we'd have been mid-table," Allam added. "I can understand why there's so much interest in him. The improvement was there for all to see and if he gets a full season anywhere else I'm sure he'll do a fantastic job."