Andre Villas Boas could easily have joined a renowned European Club after parting ways with Tottenham Hotspur.
He has been regarded as a very exciting young manager in Europe and thus, needless to say that he had had the representatives of a lot of clubs calling him once he left the White Hart Lane, but, the 37-year old remained disinterested towards all those offers and that’s because he did not want to go to a place again where he would be working in immense pressure and media scrutiny.
Villas Boas was looking for a place where he could be given some time and allowed to work in peace.
And, that’s why; the Portuguese chose Zenit St. Petersburg above all the big, flashy names that he had in front of him.
Villas Boas talked his heart out to the correspondent of a Russian Sports channel last Saturday.
He spoke about everything, his stint in England, why he could not gain as much of success as he wanted there, why he rejected big offers coming from Europe and what he is looking forward to in Russia.
In his words, “Working at big clubs can be very difficult at times. You find yourself under the scrutiny all the time. You just cannot breathe easy. One game goes wrong and people are at you straightaway. So, I wanted low profile this time around to be able to work with freedom and without too much of pressure.”
“My stint in England was not flawless by any means. I committed quite a few mistakes. Probably, I did not handle the press properly. But, I would also say I did not receive fair treatment from their side either.”
When asked if Barcelona had contacted him too for the manager job as been speculated, Villas Boas said, “Yep, it’s true.”