West Bromwich Albion boss Steve Clarke feels Andre Villas-Boas is a better manager for his ordeal at Chelsea.

The Portuguese, 35, was sacked after just nine months at the Blues' helm but took the chance to re-ignite his career with Tottenham in the summer.

Clarke, 49, said: "He's shown he has learned some lessons from his time at Chelsea, which proves he's an intelligent man. It was a difficult job for Andre there and it didn't work out - but at Porto he had an unbelievable season and proved he could manage at the top level.

"He's shown this year that he's a good coach who can get the best out of top players.

"He was a forward-thinking person even when he was at Chelsea doing the match analysis and reporting on the opposition for Jose.

"His reports were fantastic - but even then he showed a great ambition to be outside on the training pitch.

"He gave the indication that at some stage in the future he wanted to be a head coach."