Recent reports have suggested that Andre Villas Boas is on the shortlist of candidates to take over at Real Madrid should Jose Mourinho, as expected, move on this summer.
Villas Boas has enjoyed a relatively successful season with Tottenham, his first at the club. His side are fighting with Arsenal and Chelsea for a Champions League place next season and by all accounts he has performed admirably at White Hart Lane in his first job since his sacking by Chelsea.
His relative success at Tottenham, coupled with his Europa League winning achievements with Porto and the fact that he is still a very young manager, make him an understandable target for the likes of Real Madrid. Real boast one of the best squads in world football and arguably the best player in the world in Cristiano Ronaldo. They are one of the most famous clubs in the world too, with plenty of money to spend on transfers and wages. Naturally, they are an attractive proposition to many managers.
Andre Villas Boas however, if approached for the job, has to say no. He arrived at Chelsea on the crest of a wave, the brightest young manager in the game, fresh from European success with Porto. At Chelsea he crashed back to earth spectacularly. Pressurised and driven out by the clubs big names and big egos, Villas Boas was soon out of the revolving door at Stamford Bridge. He failed to handle the pressure and the attitude of those big name stars around him.
At Real Madrid he would get exactly the same issue. Without doubt Real Madrid have a squad full of the biggest egos on the planet. The eyes of the world are on Real Madrid. It’s a pressure cooker for a manager and few last long at The Bernabeu. Real Madrid is not a job Villas Boas should consider at this point in his career.
At Porto he was an unknown who found incredible success. At Chelsea he was thrust into the limelight at a club who attract massive media attention and crumbled. At Tottenham he is in a role with less pressure. He now has a job which enables him to operate on his own terms and mould a team and a club the way he wants to. At Real he would have none of that. There would be no time to build; they demand instant success. It is a job he simply has to refuse.
Andre Villas Boas is one of the games brightest managers, of that there is no doubt. What he needs is time and stability at a good, strong club without the massive weight of expectation of his shoulders. At Tottenham he has that. He has a chance to take the club forward and achieve things that few managers have in recent times at White Hart Lane. Villas Boas needs to stay put, be patient and build his career and reputation slowly. Should Real Madrid come knocking, Andre Villas Boas must say no.
