Picture the scene. FC Porto are celebrating European glory after a narrow 1-0 victory. Their young manager, who began alongside the late Sir Bobby Robson at FC Porto before kickstarting his own managerial career, has brought together a confident, resilient group and is being showered with plaudits. He has become the most sought after manager in the game, with teams across Europe scrambling for his signature.
But this is no Jose Mourinho flashback.
Instead, it is all about Andre Villas-Boas, the Portuguese sensation who is following Mourinho’s path to the top. Like the Real Madrid boss, Villas-Boas is a man in a hurry. With Porto’s 1-0 victory over Braga in the Europa League final in Dublin, he became the youngest manager to win a UEFA competition, at the age of just 33.
The connection with Mourinho goes deep. While both worked under Robson for Barcelona at the Camp Nou, Villas-Boas also worked with the “Special One” at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan as an assistant. If it seems as though, Villas-Boas is Mourinho 2.0, it is because the two shared a dugout for much of the past decade. Two rising stars with unorthodox approaches and flawless attention to detail made for a perfect match.
But Villas-Boas is unquestionably his own man, with less of the Mourinho aura, but a more laid back style. Given Villas-Boas’ preference for the 4-3-3 formation that was employed during Chelsea’s glory years, his biggest task has been to move out of Mourinho’s shadow. After a short but impressive stint at Académica de Coimbra, he jumped at the chance to return to Porto last summer in the wake of Jesualdo Ferreira’s departure.
And his impact has been evident for all to see. Porto won the Portuguese Supercup at the beginning of the season and this was simply a sign of things to come. Villas-Boas wrapped up the Portuguese Primeira Liga title, with a whopping 84 points from 30 games, going the entire league campaign without defeat. Second placed Benfica finished 21 points behind. And then he added the Europa League trophy to put the exclamation point on his emergence.
His success is all the more remarkable given that he never played the game professionally and had little managerial experience before arriving at Porto. As he brushed aside all before him in Portugal, he hurled all the assumptions about recruiting managers out of the window too.
Though comparisons with Mourinho show no sign of stopping, the Porto boss has already given indications that he has developed his own approaches. "I’m not a dictator. I don’t see football as a tactical game but more about promoting the players’ talent and nurturing that talent", explained Villas-Boas. "If you are a dictator, players will not be able to show their capabilities to the full. You have to free them and let them make their own choices during the game."
But do not be fooled – Villas-Boas is no shrinking violet. In fact, his rise was sparked by his relentless and tenacious nature. When Robson was at the helm at Porto, a 16-year-old Villas-Boas produced such a compelling and impressive argument for giving more playing time to striker Domingos Paciencia that the former England boss enrolled the youngster in coaching courses and then handed him a role in the club’s observation department. And so the journey began.
The big question that remains is whether Villas-Boas will commit his future to Porto or take advantage of the fast track to a job at one of Europe’s powerhouses. While such a move may be attractive, the Portuguese boss is reluctant to make the switch too soon and another season at the Estadio do Dragao may be the smart move – and Villas-Boas is nothing if not smart. For now, it seems the 33-year-old’s focus is on keeping his talented squad together.
"The speculation is normal with managers and players around the world," Villas-Boas said. "But it’s not easy for any of this talent to run away from us. Hulk has a release clause of €100m [£88m], which is not easy for any club to pay. Falcao’s is €30m. It’s very difficult for a club to splash around that amount of money. It’s not impossible, but let’s hope we can keep the majority of our talent next year.”
Villas-Boas dedicated the Europa League success to Mourinho, Robson and Josep Guardiola and there is a growing sense that he will soon be part of such an elite group of managers. Remember the name – Villas-Boas might just be the hottest property in world football today.
