Is Andre Villas-Boas really ready for the Chelsea limelight?
After triggering the £13.5m release clause in his contract, the spritely Andre Villas-Boas has now become Chelsea’s eighth manager in seven years. The 33 year-old is unique when compared to his his recent predecessors however, as Villas Boas is noted for the fact that he has never played the game. In his first season as a club manager, he salvaged the hopes of Académica, taking them from the pits of Portugal’s top flight to 11th place and safety. Then, after Jesualdo Ferreira vacated the post at Porto, Villas-Boas quickly assumed the managerial role of his boyhood club and of course won the treble in his first and only season with the team. An impressive resumé, yes, but is it really the risk Chelsea need to take right now?
Of course, the chunk of Boas’ CV that has been omitted so far is probably the most important. Before managing any club team as head coach, Villas-Boas was of course the under-study and protégé of one Jose Mourinho. The new Chelsea manager has been likened to his former boss in managing style, but insists that he’s a lot calmer than his Portuguese compatriot, and that he is more like Bobby Robson, another former mentor. Being assistant manager under the ‘Special One’ would do no harm to the skills one would develop as a manager, and this does seem to ring true with Villas-Boas. He is regarded as being an excellent player-manager, a savvy tactician, and handles the media with expertise.
That being said, in the summer of 2010, Villas-Boas was still seen as a risk and a bit of a wildcard when brought to the Porto helm. He had very little experience as a first-team manager, but was a fan-favourite at the Portuguese giants due to his strong affiliation with the club as a fan. This boded well for Villas-Boas, whose team-talk before the Europa League final is said to have had many a player in the changing room shedding tears. It worked in their favour and Villas-Boas went on to become the youngest manager to win a European competition. Roman Abramovich evidently saw this as the ‘second coming’, and is hoping the protegé will eventually become master.
The only difference between the two equations is the standard of European silverware each manager won in their last season at Porto respectively. Jose Mourinho’s 2004 Champions League trophy trumps Villas-Boas’ Europa League title. Of course that isn’t to say that Villas-Boas wouldn’t perhaps go on to win the Champions League next season (that’s a big perhaps), but that’s one of the biggest arguments surrounding his appointment at Chelsea. At only 33 years-old, is Andre Villas-Boas prematurely taking over one of the world’s biggest clubs?
If the ex-Porto boss doesn’t see immediate success, this position stands to wreck his future as a manager. In the materialistic and capitalist environment of world football, time is money, and managers only have the latter in abundance. Villas-Boas is rumoured to be given an £80m kitty for transfers this summer, a completely new experience to the manager. At Porto, the final decisions on transfers are left up to the club president, so it will be interesting to see whether the 33 year-old adopts the policy of buying youth in anticipation of certain rules coming in to the game in coming years, or will the threat of immediate success cause him to buy prime targets in their mid-20s? Neymar and Romelu Lukaku are names already strongly associated with Chelsea, and now Radamel Falcao is said to be one of Boas’ first targets, as he plans a raid on the Europa League champions.
The price tag that Roman Abramovich has already paid for the manager is evidence of how badly he is wanted at Stamford Bridge. At Porto, Villas-Boas was earning over £1m-a-year gross, so that will be the first sum that will doubtlessly be bettered. These two amounts are evidence of the exponential amounts of money some owners have at their disposal.
Abramovich wants the best of the best, and he wants them now. If not, his teddy will most certainly be thrown out of the pram. The last time it was safely coddled in his arms was about 14 months ago after Carlo Ancelotti had just secured a double for Chelsea and all was good. A year and no silverware later, the Italian is gone. I imagine Villas-Boas knows exactly the kind of hotpot he’s stepping into. If he wins the Champions League in his Premier League debut season, it could mean eternal fame and glory (eternal in this case equalling about ten minutes). If not he will first of all be out of Chelsea before his 3 year contract is up, and in similar fashion to Rafa Benitez, unlikely to manage a top four English side again.
£14m is about £10m more than Chelsea would had to have paid to regain the services of Guus Hiddink. ‘The Goose’ as he is known, is proven, more experienced, and has previously achieved success with Chelsea. He’s familiar with the players and has an outstanding track record enviable of most managers. Seems like a no-brainer, right? No. Not for an impatient Russian looking for the next Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho.
It will be interesting to see whether or not this 33 year-old can command the respect of some of the world’s most egotistic professionals as little as six months his younger. At the other end of the spectrum will be whether 17 and 18 year-olds with the world at their feet will listen to this near-unknown ‘Portuguese bloke’. Andre Villas-Boas is a very likeable character but could be peaking just a little too early for the sake of his career. They get younger every year, don’t they?
