The new José Mourinho? No, he’s not. Remember the former Chelsea coach who now drives rally races?

André Villas-Boas has been seen as the new José Mourinho. And no wonder. His coaching beginnings were very similar to his, but his follow-ups have been quite different. What is the former Chelsea coach doing now?

He was just thirty-two years old when he sat on the bench at Chelsea London, after the club’s management didn’t hesitate to pay Porto a record €15 million for him. In England, they very much wanted his engagement to be at least as successful as that of José Mourinho. But the young Portuguese lasted only nine months on the Chelsea bench.

André Villas-Boas was a student of ‘The Special One’ during his coaching engagements on the bench of Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan. In 2009, he decided to embark on a new phase and became coach of Académica.

The inexperienced coach had a meteoric start. Académica was then hopelessly the last team in the Portuguese league. It hadn’t recorded a single victory. However, the new coach’s magic quickly took hold and the club finished the year in a safe eleventh position. Villas-Boas even led his charges to the semi-finals of the Portuguese Cup.

A year later, he sat on Porto’s bench. A huge leap for such a young coach who was not afraid of a challenge. Just two months after his appointment, he won the Portuguese Super Cup and finished the year by winning the league title without a single defeat. But that wasn’t all.

Porto also won the League Cup and the Europa League under his leadership. Unsurprisingly, his success did not go unnoticed, and the very next season he was on the Chelsea bench. A path very similar to his mentor.

André Villas-Boas, however, did not see success and with this engagement began the steep decline of his meteoric career. The inconclusive results led to problems in the cabin, which were made all the worse probably due to the lack of respect he had not earned due to his young age.

After losing the game against Everton, which meant leaving the TOP4 in the table, the Portuguese coach cancelled the players’ post-match leave. Several players addressed their dissatisfaction directly to the club owner. As a result, Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Ashley Cole were left out of the line-up for the Champions League quarter-final match, which Chelsea lost in Naples 1-3.

Shortly afterwards, André Villas-Boas was dismissed and replaced by then assistant Roberto Di Matteo.

His engagement at Tottenham did not bring much success either. Despite breaking the club record for points scored (72) during his first season, he failed to qualify for the Champions League. They were just two points short of fourth-placed Arsenal from fifth position.

One thing can’t be denied. It was under him that Gareth Bale played the season of his life, which earned him a move to Real Madrid. Ironically, it was his sale that started to break the coach’s neck.

The Roosters made 100 million euros by selling him. They used it to completely rebuild the team, but it didn’t bear fruit. Villas-Boas was sacked in December 2013.

What is he doing now?

The Portuguese coach has taken over at Russian side Zenit St Petersburg after finishing at White Hart Lane. During his two-year tenure, he added three more trophies to his collection. A stint in China followed and he concluded his coaching career on the Marseille bench for the time being.

Their paths diverged after disagreements with the club’s management, who brought Olivier Ntcham from Celtic against his wishes. Villas-Boas offered his resignation at a press conference, which the French outfit confirmed in the following hours.

André Villas-Boas is now fulfilling his childhood dreams and racing in rallies. In 2021 and 2022, he took part in the Rally de Portugal.

Back in 2018, he was supposed to take part in the Dakar Rally, from which he had to withdraw at the time due to an injury caused by a car accident. Now he would like to focus on it again and race just the Dakar Rally.

Source: Wikipedia, Givemesport