• Daniel Levy wants dynamic young coach to drive club
forward
• Villas-Boas has sought assurances about future of Luka Modric
Tottenham Hotspur
have held direct negotiations
with André Villas-Boas
and they are poised to offer him the
manager's job. Tottenham officials met Villas‑Boas's agent in
London last Friday and Saturday to explain what they were looking
for in the successor to Harry Redknapp, who they sacked last
Wednesday. But they have since accelerated the process by speaking
directly to Villas-Boas.
The 34-year-old Portuguese, who
was dismissed by Chelsea in March, was initially unsure
whether he was the Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy's first choice
for the vacancy. He felt that Levy had other candidates in mind,
which was true, with Everton's David Moyes numbering among them.
But it has become clear that Villas‑Boas is the man that Levy wants
to lead Tottenham into a new era.
The sacking of Redknapp represented a gamble, as he had led the
club to fourth-, fifth- and fourth-placed finishes in the Premier
League in the past three seasons, only missing out on Champions
League qualification last month when Chelsea beat Bayern Munich in
the final of the competition.
Villas-Boas knows that Levy's minimum requirement is to qualify
for Europe's elite tournament. The chairman also wants to be
challenging for the league title in the near future. Redknapp often
said he thought "there was a championship in this club". It is a
demanding brief and the jury remains out in some quarters over
Villas‑Boas. He has plenty to prove after his ill-fated Chelsea
tenure, when he failed to impose his will on the squad's strong
personalities. It hurt his reputation that, after his dismissal,
the team recovered to win the Champions League and FA Cup
under Roberto Di Matteo. But Levy has come to view Villas-Boas
as the dynamic young coach to drive the club forward.
Villas-Boas and his representative have sought assurances about
the future of Tottenham's best players, chief among them the
midfielder Luka Modric, who has exited Euro 2012 with Croatia
and is determined to be granted a big transfer this summer.
Villas‑Boas tried to sign Modric when he was at Chelsea last
summer, only for Levy to block the £40m proposal.
It is unclear whether Levy will be able to hold on to Modric for
another season, although he is empowered to hold the player to his
contract, which has four years to run. He is adamant he would not
sell Modric to Chelsea or Manchester United but he may be more
receptive to a bid from Real Madrid, particularly if the sum on
offer was upwards of £40m.
Tottenham's new manager, though, will be granted a large
transfer kitty to reshape the squad in his image, and it stands to
be even larger if Modric were to leave. The priority area is
centre-forward. The club are struggling to satisfy Emmanuel
Adebayor's wage demands to make his loan move from Manchester City
permanent; they have not taken up the option on Louis Saha. Jermain
Defoe is the only established striker.
Levy is keen to find a more senior role within the set-up for
Tim Sherwood, the youth development squad coach. Sherwood survived
the cull of Redknapp's backroom staff, which accounted for Kevin
Bond, Joe Jordan and Clive Allen, because Levy considers him to be
an asset to the club.
