Club presidential candidate says only ‘three people’ know truth about Chelsea move – Ensured club got full release clause

André Villas-Boas’ move from Porto to Chelsea is suddenly recalled in the Portuguese media today.

The reason for it is that as the former manager is now running for Porto’s presidency, he’s now having to recall the reasons why he left the Dragons for the Blues many years ago.

Villas-Boas is quoted by O Jogo recalling that story, and made it clear that he never joined Chelsea for money, as they actually offered him a quite small salary.

“There are three people who know the truth about my departure: Mr Pinto da Costa, Mr Antero and André Villas-Boas. And there are three people who knew that André Villas-Boas was fighting with the interested clubs to get them to pay the €15m clause. André Villas-Boas went to Chelsea to earn half of what the highest paid manager in Portugal earns. He went to Chelsea for a little more than the manager of the team that finished 21 points behind FC Porto in 2010/11,” said Villas-Boas.

“Before talking about André Villas-Boas as Chelsea coach, you need to be fully aware of the world around his departure and not believe certain things that only a few people are willing to say.”

Villas-Boas left Porto for Chelsea in the summer of 2011, but his time in charge of the Blues didn’t last long, as he only stayed at the club until March 2012.

In his 40 games, he had 20 wins, 10 draws and 10 defeats, and that was enough for Roman Abramovich to sack him.

The coach then worked at Tottenham Hotspur, Zenit, SH SIPG, and had his last work at Olympique Marseille, having left them in January 2021.

He never took another job, and is now in campaign to be Porto’s new president, with a mission of beating Pinto da Costa, who’s been in that position since 1982.