Andre Villas-Boas snubbed European giants to stay with Tottenham Hotspur

Andre Villas Boas

Andre Villas-Boas has revealed that he refused the opportunity at managing two European clubs, with Paris St Germain being the obvious one, because according to him, Tottenham are ready to achieve something big this season.

PSG, Barcelona and Real Madrid were all rumoured to be interested in securing the services of Villas-Boas, but even with their money power, they were not able to persuade the Portuguese.

Tottenham start their campaign on Sunday afternoon at Crystal Palace, and with it, Villas-Boas will achieve something he has not done before. He will start a season at the same club where he finished the previous season.

“(I turned the offers down) because this is my first opportunity to start a second year in the same club,” Villas-Boas, according to Sky Sports, said at the official Premier League launch at a south London school on Thursday.

“I think that can give me an advantage and it is something I want to try.

“I have been very welcomed, I have an excellent group of players, and the conditions and structures we have at Tottenham are fantastic and the arrival of Franco takes us to another level so these are things I had to measure.

“I have great respect for the club and for (chairman) Daniel (Levy) and these are the reasons the couple of clubs that came knocking I told them that I wasn’t interested.”

This summer, Spurs have done shrewd business. They even broke their transfer record twice in a span of weeks to sign Paulinho and Roberto Soldado. The other notable signings are Nacer Chadli and Etienne Capoue, from FC Twente and Toulouse respectively.

When asked about criticism of his failure to buy any British players, he replied: “There is one problem with English players in the English Premier League – the price.

“They are rated for the top players. I think players in England cost you a lot more than what you can get out of Europe, particularly in the case of Nacer Chadli and Etienne Capoue, so at the moment it is a market we have been looking at with players that we have been following.

“The other two (Paulinho and Soldado, who cost £17 million and £26 million respectively) are renowned internationals that we had to pay a very high price for, but I think it is the right price for players of that level.

“Eventually if a good deal at the right price for an English player arises I wouldn’t have any problem with that.”