Andre Villas-Boas's former employer believes the young Portuguese manager will turn things around at Chelsea if he is given time.
Chelsea manager can prove a success if he is given time
Andre Villas-Boas's former employer at Porto believes the young Portuguese manager moved too soon to Chelsea, but will turn things around at Stamford Bridge if he is given time.
Speculation over Villas-Boas' position has increased after the Blues dropped to fifth in the Premier League, outside the UEFA Champions League qualification places.
And after just one season at Porto, his ex-chairman Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa believes it was too soon for the 34-year-old to try his hand in England.
He also believes the shadow of countryman and predecessor at both Porto and Chelsea, Jose Mourinho, has also dogged Villas-Boas, whom he thinks can be successful at the Blues if he is given time.
Pinto da Costa told
La Gazzetta dello Sport: "Villas-Boas went because of the huge offer Chelsea made (15million euros).
Weighed heavily
"The other thing that weighed heavily was the difficulties he had in emulating Mourinho's Champions League victory in 2004.
"He left thinking that Chelsea was a unique opportunity, but I believe that was a mistake because there would have been others."
And having claimed Villas-Boas could not match Mourinho at Porto, Pinto da Costa believes the Chelsea old guard are part of the reason he has struggled to live up to his illustrious countryman's achievements at Stamford Bridge.
"He's doing well, he qualified for the Champions League last 16 and he's in all the competitions," added the Porto president.
"He will be successful with the Blues because his contract isn't just for one year.
Needs time
"He needs time to mould his own team and he can't do that as long as there are players, as I've heard, who exchange text messages with Mourinho.
"And (Roman) Abramovich (the Chelsea owner) knows this."
Pinto da Costa doesn't believe Mourinho will be leaving current club Real Madrid any time soon to return to his old London hunting ground.
"Mourinho will stay at Real Madrid next season. The only thing that will topple Villas-Boas is if he fails to qualify for the Champions League," said the Porto supremo.
"If he leaves Chelsea, he'll be the next coach of Inter."
