Villas-Boas revolution gathers steam

Reuters

Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas.

London – The Andre Villas-Boas revolution gathered pace on Friday night in what has become the Tottenham style, bidding farewell to August with an explosion of transfer activity.

Spurs were pushing the 11pm deadline in a bid to complete the signings of Joao Moutinho and Hugo Lloris, although neither would be available to play against Norwich on Saturday. Portuguese midfielder Moutinho was poised to become the club’s most expensive player after a fee of £20million plus add-ons was agreed with Porto.

From there it depended on talks on his wages – he earns £80,000 per week from Porto, putting him at the very top end of Spurs’ pay scale.

And France skipper Lloris arrived at Spurs Lodge on Friday afternoon with a wave for fans after hard-up Lyon accepted an offer of £13m for their goalkeeper.

The day’s business was on track to push Tottenham’s summer splurge beyond £70m on six senior players, although two-thirds of that figure has been recouped through sales, including Luka Modric to Real Madrid for £27m plus.

Rafael van der Vaart, a deadline-day signing two years ago, was sold to Hamburg for £10m yesterday, Giovani dos Santos joined Real Mallorca for £4m and Danny Rose moved to Sunderland on a one-year loan.

Spurs also agreed a fee with Sunderland for Jermaine Jenas but the player rejected the move.

Considering Villas-Boas would have happily sold Michael Dawson to QPR and released Tom Huddlestone on loan to Stoke, it emphasises the impact of the new manager and his determination to clear out the dressing room.

Just as when he arrived at Chelsea last summer, the Portuguese took time to assess the incumbent squad before making a clinical decision on those he wanted and those he did not. Sebastien Bassong, Niko Kranjcar, Steven Pienaar, Ryan Nelsen and Louis Saha have now all been shown the door.

Having failed to keep Modric, chairman Daniel Levy backed his manager’s judgment to recruit Moutinho, striking a deal with Porto to release the midfielder for less than the £32m buy-out clause in his contract.

Villas-Boas had dismissed the idea of signing the 25-year-old just 24 hours before, claiming the move was ‘impossible’.

Moutinho joined Porto for £10m from Sporting Lisbon, who will receive 25 per cent of any profit. He is also part owned by a third-party investor, so it has been a difficult deal to unravel before it meets Premier League rules.

He was the midfield pacemaker in the team who won four trophies under Villas-Boas and went undefeated through the 2010-11 league campaign and is integral to the way the Spurs boss likes to play, with a highly technical and mobile midfield trio, capable of winning the ball and moving it quickly.

Lloris also meets the AVB DNA, an athletic goalkeeper capable of operating outside the confines of his penalty area, enabling his back four to play higher up the pitch. – Daily Mail