Andre Villas-Boas has revealed he rejected an offer from Paris Saint-Germain after his first season in charge at Tottenham.
The Portugese, who was sacked by Spurs just months later in December 2013, claimed it might have been a “mistake” to turn down a proposal from the prestigious French club “for the love of Tottenham”.
In an interview with Italian publication Corriere dello Sport, Villas-Boas explained how the north Londoners let him down in the transfer market after he lead them to a fifth-place finish in his first season.
“In April we made plans for the following season, I proposed purchases and sales, but the owners did not listen to me and in a short time everything we had created was destroyed,” Villas-Boas told Corriere dello Sport on Friday. “I also received a proposal from PSG but I said no for the love of Tottenham. Maybe it was a mistake.”
OPINION
Villas-Boas left Tottenham with the highest percentage of league wins – 55 per cent – of any manager in the club’s Premier League era, before Mauricio Pochettino came along, beat it and showed what you have to do to earn the widespread affection of supporters of the club. When AVB was given the boot after 18 months at the helm, the team were in freefall and on the end of a series of hammerings that suggested he had lost the dressing room. Should he have quit for PSG after one season? No, he shouldn’t. That would have been even worse. One of the themes of Villas-Boas’ curious coaching career is that he changes job so often. He has itchier feet that his former mentor Jose Mourinho and never seems to last long. Is that the sign of someone who is always looking for the next gig? Or a manager who works well only in short blasts, but lacks the man-management skills to consistently coax the best out of elite players over an extended period?