Andre Villas-Boas reveals how Roman Abramovich was ‘p****d off’ at Chelsea missing out on dream signing
Andre Villas-Boas has revealed that Chelsea’s failure to sign Luka Modric from London rivals Tottenham left former owner Roman Abramovich ‘p****d off’.
Villas-Boas was sacked by the Blues just eight months into his reign at Stamford Bridge, having won just under half of his 40 games in charge in west London.
However, he feels that his time could have been very different if the Blues had signed Modric or their back-up proposition Joao Moutinho.
Chelsea tried to tempt Modric into swapping London clubs. However, Spurs were having none of it and the Croatian ended up moving to Real Madrid just months after Villas-Boas’ exit.
Speaking about his time at the Bridge, he revealed the frustration of missing out on two top targets.
“Of course, we missed the [Luka] Modric deal at the beginning of the season,” Villas-Boas told the Daily Telegraph.
“If the Modric deal was not to be done there was the [Joao] Moutinho deal to be done. That was the promise of Roman at that time.
“Moutinho joined the Premier League years and years after I tried – proposing to both Chelsea and Tottenham. And everybody has seen the player that he is.
Double blow hit Villas-Boas hard
“So that denial of him was a failure that you can’t [blame on] a coach. I thought that we had the Modric deal done and he ended up in Real Madrid the season after. Then the Moutinho deal was to be done with Porto but the problem was the deal [for Chelsea] for the left-back of Porto, Alvaro Pereira, fell through.
“Roman felt p****d off. So, no Modric, no Moutinho, [Radamel] Falcao is another one that was about to come in. But then you had [Didier] Drogba who couldn’t decide whether he wanted to leave or not in January.
“He was about to go to Shanghai, then he isn’t any more and then Marina [Granovskaia] she wanted Carlos Tevez and suddenly she doesn’t want Tevez any more.
“So, you know, managements and mismanagements that are typical within that organisation.
“But Marina evolved to one of the greatest CEOs at that time [at Chelsea]. I am nothing compared to what she has achieved.
“There are a lot of things about that season that deserve one of those shocking autobiographies in England that reaches number one in WH Smith!”
Modric still strutting his stuff
Up until as recently as this summer, Modric was being linked with a return to the Premier League.
Both Tottenham and Manchester City were said to be chasing the classy playmaker. However, he ended up signing a new one-year contract at the Bernabeu and has hinted he could stay for longer.
“I’m very happy and proud to continue at least one more year in Real Madrid,” he said on Twitter.
“I want to continue to give everything for the club – I am proud to continue wearing this shirt.”
Modric could eventually go down as one of the greats to have played the game. Indeed his CV is a remarkable one.
The veteran star has won five Champions League titles, three LaLiga titles, one Copa del Rey, four Spanish Super Cups, three European Super Cups and four Club World Cups at Madrid.
