The manager says none of his transfer targets – such as Oscar and Willian – were signed, while he distanced himself from Liverpool links and slammed a lack of support at Chelsea
A year on from his departure from Tottenham, former boss Andre Villas-Boas has hit out at Spurs chairman Daniel Levy and claims countless promises over transfers were not kept.
The Portuguese coach, now managing at Zenit, left the north London club off the back of a 5-0 hammering at the hands of Liverpool last year, though he believes a lack of success was down to Levy’s transfer policy.
Villas-Boas watched as Rafael van der Vaart, Luka Modric and Gareth Bale were all sold and says none of his preferred targets were secured as replacements, even suggesting technical director Franco Baldini had an opposing remit to his own.
“Tottenham set a points and victories record in my first season, and missed out on the Champions League by one point and had a great run in the Europa League,” Villas-Boas told Portuguese TV show TVI.
“In the second season, at the time I left we had more points than in the previous season.
“I ended up leaving by mutual agreement – it wasn’t a sacking – because I gave full support to the football director Franco Baldini who meanwhile had other ambitions, meaning that I ended up with players that did not fit the profile I wanted.
“The chairman proposed a challenge to increase Tottenham’s competitive level, but immediately Modric left and we didn’t get any of the targets I had identified, such as Joao Moutinho, Willian, Oscar or Leandro Damiao.
“These were promises that were not kept. I had a group of players I had not chosen. In two years I lost Van der Vaart, Modric, Bale, and all the promises made were unfulfilled.
“In any event I don’t look at my time at Tottenham as a negative experience. It was an experience I needed to have.”
Tottenham’s lack of success in the transfer market has prompted a reshuffle of the non-playing staff and Baldini’s position is under serious threat after Paul Mitchell was brought in to overhaul player recruitment.
Villas-Boas added: “I speak of Franco Baldini, who came from AS Roma and is now in a down position, exiting the club.”
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Villas-Boas, meanwhile, has been linked with replacing Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool should the club’s owners sack the Northern Irishman, though he has little desire to take over at Anfield.
“I’m not the least interested in this. Returning to England is definitely not in my plans,” continued the Portuguese coach.
“I had talks with Liverpool, a club I admire a lot, but like I said it’s not in my plans, although life takes many turns. I liked coaching in England, it was a positive experience, but negative things also happened.”
As well as claiming he did not receive the backing he required at Tottenham, Villas-Boas was also critical of his brief tenure at Chelsea and does not believe he was giving the support he needed to rebuild the side.
“I don’t regret leaving [Porto for Chelsea] one bit. I’m an emotive person and I took a conscious decision, I think it was the right decision,” he added.
“Of course we never know what will happen and what I found at Chelsea was not what I wanted. I arrived at a difficult time in the private life of the chairman, who was rarely present.
“This clearly had an effect. Then I was surprised and I am still surprised that the chairman’s intentions changed. When I went there the idea was to rebuild the team.”