Is Villas Boas a good choice for Chelsea? ~ MotivaGoal

Last week Chelsea FC confirmed the signing of 33-year old Andre Villas Boas as the new manager for the club. He has signed a three-year contract that will reportedly pay him approximately 5 million£ per year, and to do so the London side had to buy out his contract clause with FC Porto worth around 13 million€. After having made such an important economic investment to bring the Portuguese rising star to Stamford Bridge the question arises: Is Villas Boas a good Choice for Chelsea?

As far as results are concerned, it is difficult to argue against the young manager given the success he achieved with FC Porto this past season, going undefeated in the league as well as winning the Portuguese Cup and the Europa League Championship. He is also said to be an excellent motivator and leader inside the locker room with his players, skills that he no doubt learned from working alongside his mentor, Jose Mourinho, over the course of many years. Other key assets for Villas Boas include his charismatic personality and impeccable English language skills. There will be lots of pressure on the Portuguese manager to perform early on, and being able to establish rapport and a good line of communication with the British press will play to his advantage.

On the other hand, the signing of Villas Boas does raise a few doubts, the first one being his lack of managerial experience. Although he formed part of Mourinho’s coaching staff in various important clubs (including Chelsea itself as well as FC Porto and Inter Milan), he has only been at the helm of a big club for one season, albeit obtaining outstanding results. However, his success was achieved in a league that is much less competitive than the EPL, so despite having won everything with FC Porto last year, one must not forget that only a couple of clubs in Portugal are contenders every year to win the league title. Villas Boas will also have the challenge of managing a team full of international superstars such as Drogba, Terry, Lampard and Fernando Torres. Although during his short stint with Porto he handled a team filled with excellent footballers, none of them had the international caché that practically all of the Blues have, except perhaps Falcao and Hulk. This means that he will have to work hard to gain the confidence of these players that in some cases are the same age as him.

Having analyzed both the pros and the cons of the Portuguese manager's background, we can conclude that Chelsea have made the right move in hiring Villas Boas. Evidently it represents a risk, particularly considering the high economic investment made to bring him onboard, yet, any new managerial hiring always does. However, his recent results, his knowledge of the club and his motivation to succeed seem to suggest that he is the right man for the job at Stamford Bridge. Only time will tell.

MotivaGoal caught up with Villas Boas at press conference of the UEFA Europa League final recently in Dublin. Check out the article below:

http://www.motivagoal.com/2011/06/at-press-conference-with-andre-villas.html

Also, check out his first exclusive interview with Chelsea TV shortly after his signing was made official: