Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas told L'Equipe he moved out from the shadow of Jose Mourinho because 'The Special One' did not "feel the need to have someone next to him" to achieve success. The 35-year-old followed Mourinho from Porto to Chelsea and Inter Milan, but the pair split at the start of the 2009-10 campaign.

"I was never his number two," he said. "I was part of his staff, but I was never his assistant. That's one of the reasons we went our separate ways. I thought I could give him a lot more, but he didn't feel the need to have someone next to him.

"So I decided to give myself freedom and think about my career, which wasn't difficult. Yes, there are similarities: Porto, Chelsea. But he has had a lot of success at Chelsea and I didn't have a good experience there."