Andre Villas-Boas has revealed former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was ‘p****d off’ after two failed transfer pursuits in the summer of 2011.
The Portuguese’s time at Stamford Bridge ended less than nine months after it started when he arrived from Porto.
Chelsea paid £13.3 million for Villas-Boas to release him from his Porto contract, a sign of the promise of what he could offer after becoming the youngest coach to win the Europa League.
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Villas-Boas lasted just 257 days at Chelsea before being axed in March 2011, being replaced by Roberto Di Matteo who guided the club to win the Champions League just two months later.
Chelsea lost faith in Villas-Boas, they put their money where their mouth was to land him, however they got impatient and, like so many other times in the Abramovich era, ruthlessly pulled the sack trigger.
It was far from easy for Villas-Boas who spoke to The Telegraph about the transfer dealings in west London.
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He states that he was promised Joao Moutinho if a deal for Luka Modric couldn’t be completed - which it wasn’t - while the club also showed interest in Radamel Falcao and Carlos Tevez.
The failed transfer business annoyed many in west London, including Abramovich, who then was unable to deliver on his promises leading to further fury that ultimately played a part in costing Villas-Boas his job.
“Of course, we missed the Modric deal at the beginning of the season,” admitted the former Chelsea boss.
“If the Modric deal was not to be done there was the Moutinho deal to be done. That was the promise of Roman at that time.
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“Moutinho joined the Premier League years and years after I tried – proposing to both Chelsea and Tottenham – and everybody has seen the player that he is. So that denial of him was a failure that you can’t (blame on) a coach.
“I thought that we had the Modric deal done and he ended up in Real Madrid the season after.
"Then the Moutinho deal was to be done with Porto but the problem was the deal (for Chelsea) for the left-back of Porto, Alvaro Pereira, fell through.
“Roman felt p*****d off. So, no Modric, no Moutinho…Falcao is another one that was about to come in but then you had (Didier) Drogba who couldn’t decide whether he wanted to leave or not in January. He was about to go to Shanghai, then he isn’t any more and then Marina (Granovskaia) she wanted Carlos Tevez and suddenly she doesn’t want Tevez any more.
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“So, you know, managements and mismanagements that are typical within that organisation. But Marina evolved to one of the greatest CEOs at that time (at Chelsea). I am nothing compared to what she has achieved.
"There are a lot of things about that season that deserve one of those shocking autobiographies in England that reaches number one in WH Smith!”
Topics: Roman Abramovich, Chelsea, Luka Modric, Football, Premier League, Joao Moutinho
Matthew Debono