Villas-Boas to start Chelsea reign with £80million deals for Falcao, Moutinho and... Neymar!

Andre Villas-Boas has lined up an £80million triple swoop when he becomes Roman Abramovich's seventh Chelsea manager in seven years.

Villas-Boas will be confirmed as Carlo Ancelotti's Stamford Bridge successor in the next 24 hours after Chelsea bankrolled the 33-year-old's £13.2m extrication from his contract with the Portuguese champions.

The Portuguese, who was the chief opposition scout during Jose Mourinho's SW6 reign, flew into London last night after breaking his ties with Porto and hopes to persuade Abramovich to land Colombian striker Radamel Falcao and Portuguese playmaker Joao Moutinho and give him two players who will be dressing room disciples.
Chelsea are also closing in on Brazilian teenager Neymar with a £40m bid being prepared after he plays for Santos in the second leg of their Copa Libertadores final against Penarol tonight.

Israeli agent Pini Zahavi has flown to Sao Paulo to help Chelsea complete their swoop for the South American after his club Santos turned down the initial £30m aproach, with a deal expected to go through before the weekend.

Villas-Boas is also keen on bringing at least two members of his coaching staff with him, physical trainer Jose Mario Rocha and opposition scout Daniel Sousa, although Porto have named his assistant Vitor Pereira as their new boss.

Pereira said: "Andre asked me if I wanted to come with him to Chelsea but I told him my dream was to stay as coach of Porto. This is the club where I want to succeed.

"Andre made his history, of which I am proud. I thank Andre for his friendship and trust but the past is the past. Andre knows that Porto will continue to win."

Porto President Pinta Da Costa refused to discuss Villas-Boas' exit last night as Chelsea prepared for an imminent announcement after Porto last night confirmed to the Portuguese Stock Exchange that the buy-out clause money has been deposited.

Villas-Boas has agreed to take up the toughest job in club football, on a three-year deal worth £6.2m per season and just as Mourinho brought in Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho from Porto to spread the gospel according to the Special One, so then new man will follow that blueprint with his own two chosen signings.
Falcao, the star of the Portuguese season seems set on following Villas-Boas to Chelsea after ditching his former agent, Claudio Mossio, and employing Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes, who represents Villas-Boas, Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo among others.

The former River Plate striker, 25, who moved to Portugal from the Argentinian side in 2009, has scored a staggering 73 goals in 85 appearances for Porto, including a record-breaking 17 in the Europa League campaign he sealed with the only goal against Braga in Dublin last month.

Porto has set a minimum release clause price of £26.5m for his services while they are likely to want at least £14m for Mourinho, despite spending just £9m to land him from Sporting Lisbon last summer.

Martin Jol relishes Premier League return with Fulham

Martin Jol says he intends to sign 'four or five' players at Fulham this summer. Photograph: Steven Paston/Action Images

Martin Jol's last involvement in English football might have ended in distrust, disarray and a shambolic botched sacking but Fulham's new manager has dismissed the idea that he was attracted back to the Premier League by thoughts of scores to settle and unfinished business.
After twice leading Tottenham to fifth-place finishes Jol was sacked in October 2007, the news broken to him by text message in the middle of a Uefa Cup tie against Getafe. Though Spurs had by then won only one of 10 league games, the club's worst start to a season for 19 years, his replacement, Juande Ramos, had been pursued for months, and was photographed in a Spanish hotel holding discussions with Spurs' deputy chairman that August.
"I won't lie, I didn't feel great at that moment," Jol said of his dismissal. "But later on you go to another club. I was in Germany, and Hamburg have 55,000 season-ticket holders, not bloody 30,000, so that was a bigger club. I played in the semi-finals in Europe, and I played in the quarter-finals with Spurs, so it was even better. There's no looking back, no hard feelings. A couple of years ago Daniel [Levy, the Tottenham chairman] phoned me up as if nothing had happened, so that helped. He looked after me — and why not? I did well for him."
A rumoured £4m payout would have eased the pain caused by the manner of his departure, but Jol hinted that his chances of succeedingat White Hart Lane had been undermined by the presence of the club's then sporting director Damien Comolli, who now occupies a similar role overseeing player recruitment at Liverpool. "I said to Daniel when I came to England: 'If you leave me [alone], if you let me work for you, they will push you around the streets of London like a king.' And they never did."
Since leaving London Jol spent a single successful season at Hamburg followed by 18 months at Ajax, ending with his resignation last December. But throughout that time he has been repeatedly linked with vacancies in England, where he also spent three years as a player in the mid-80s. Fulham finally got their man at the third attempt, having held discussions with the Dutchman, now 55, about replacing Lawrie Sanchez at the end of 2007, and Roy Hodgson last summer.
"When I left Spurs I said I was like Arnold Schwarzenegger – 'I'll be back'. And now I am back. It's got nothing to do with unfinished business," Jol said. "England is the football country in Europe, maybe in the world. That's the only reason why you want to come back. I love the English people. Maybe that is wrong because at the end at Spurs there were a few people who were not nice to me. I always loved it here, and not only in London. I was even in Walsall and loved it, and that is maybe not the best of places."
Jol's targets will inevitably be a little lower than those which he failed to meet for his last English employer. "Here the target is to be in the league, then as high as possible in the top 10. I could never say that at Spurs," he said. "But last season Fulham were eighth, after having a bad start. You never know."
The first priority, apparently, will be to entertain: "There's always one principle for me and that is to make people happy. I will always try to do something on the flanks and try to play attacking, nice football."
His first fixture will be a Europa League qualifying tie against Runavik of the Faroe Islands, with the first leg to be played at Craven Cottage next Thursday. "We'll treat it like a friendly with a serious touch," he said. As for transfers, the Dutchman expects to sign "four or five" players over the summer, with a focus on youth. "On average we are a bit old," he said. "Hopefully we can find one or two Dembeles [players like the club's 23-year-old striker Moussa Dembele] and build a good young team for the future."
Though he refused to comment on specific targets, his commitment to reducing the average age of his squad would appear to make a much-touted move for Robbie Keane, who turns 31 next month, unlikely.

De Gea keen to emulate idols

De Gea: Inspired by Old Trafford legends

Atletico Madrid goalkeeper David de Gea has described Manchester United legends Peter Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar as his two idols.

De Gea, who is away with Spain's under-21 side in the European Championships in Denmark, is expected to seal a move to United at the beginning of next month, but the youngster says he is focused on his national team for now.
"I am trying to stay focused on the Euros for now because it's fundamentally important to our hopes that we all think only about that," he told AS in an interview.
Nevertheless, the goalkeeper is proud of United's interest in him.
"Manchester United are a great club and if they are interested in you, it's a compliment," he said.
The deal is set to go ahead early next month and not beforehand, because the negotiations have been handled by Portuguese agent Jorge Mendes, who will not represent De Gea until the beginning of July, when the deal with his current representative runs out.
However, the official line from the player is he wants to concentrate on the Euros.
"I'm just more relaxed if I focus on the Euros," he said.
"I want my head here, not somewhere else."
Despite those words, a move to United looks a formality, though, and De Gea will hope to follow in the footsteps of two of his idols.
"Edwin has been playing at 20 years at the highest level; he's a great goalkeeper and a big point of reference for me," he said.
"(When I was younger) I liked (Peter) Schmeichel a lot, as well as Van der Sar - they're the two best that I've seen."