Gregorio Manzano's future as head coach of Shanghai Shenhua has been thrown into doubt after chairman Wu Xiaohui publicly declared the club is considering other options ahead of next season.
Manzano, who joined Shanghai from Beijing Guoan at the start of the year, steered the club to fourth place in the league, Shenhua's best performance since 2010 and enough to earn a spot in the qualifying rounds of the Asian Champions League.
The former Malaga, Atletico Madrid and Mallorca coach is seeking an extension to his existing deal after the upswing in the club's performance, but Manzano left Shanghai this week to return to Spain with no resolution on his future status with the club.
"The divergence between the club and Mr Manzano is not about his salary or the club's investment to bring in more big name players, but about our football style and target setting for next season," said club chairman Wu.
"This season we nailed down one of the 2017 Asian Champions League slots after Guangzhou R&F lost to Beijing and Manzano thinks he should have been rewarded with a contract renewal at that time.
"But I insisted that we should fight for second place while keeping third place as a minimum. I heard that he couldn't sleep after being informed of this."
Beijing's 3-1 win over Guangzhou R&F came with three games remaining in the Chinese Super League season, when Shanghai Shenhua retained hope of finishing in second place above Jiangsu Suning and ahead of local rivals Shanghai SIPG.
But a draw and a loss in their final two games -- part of a run of four games without a win at the end of the season -- saw Shenhua slip to fourth, below SIPG but still enough to claim the final place in the Champions League by virtue of Jiangsu and champions Guangzhou Evergrande facing off in the final of the CFA Cup.
"For the 2017 season, we have set two targets," Wu said. "The first is to enter the group stage in the Asian Champions League from the qualification phase; the second is to guarantee a 2018 Asian Champions League slot by the end of the season.
"But Mr Manzano disagrees. He thinks the targets are beyond the team's quality.
"We will keep communicating with him, but we have a Plan B. For us, the club is our priority and our choice of coach team must match these expectations."