Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas tells L’Equipe he moved out from the shadow of Jose Mourinhobecause ‘The Special One’ did not “feel the need to have someone next to him” to achieve success.

The 35-year-old followed Mourinho from Porto to Chelsea and Inter Milan, helping his fellow Portuguese establish a lengthy list of honours and an unimpeachable reputation. However, the pair split at the start of the 2009-10 campaign when Villas-Boas’ desire to make a name for himself in the game led him to take charge of Academica Coimbra.

“I was never his number two,” he said. “I was part of his staff, but I was never his assistant. That’s one of the reasons we went our separate ways. I thought I could give him a lot more, but he didn’t feel the need to have someone next to him. So I decided to give myself freedom and think about my career, which wasn’t difficult. Yes, there are similarities: Porto, Chelsea. But he has had a lot of success at Chelsea and I didn’t have a good experience there.”