Andre Villas-Boas has no love for Jose Mourinho

Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas has said he does not dwell on the breakdown of his relationship with Chelsea’s José Mourinho, his former mentor, as he prepares to face him for the first time on Saturday at White Hart Lane.

The pair are no longer on good terms and Villas-Boas has traced the beginning of the friction to their time at Internazionale.

Villas-Boas had worked under Mourinho at Porto and Chelsea as the opposition scout but he wanted greater involvement in first-team coaching at Inter, only for Mourinho to deny him

Further spice to Saturday’s fixture comes with the fact that Villas-Boas endured a failed spell as the Chelsea manager in 2011-12.

“I don’t care about Chelsea,” he said.

Villas-Boas was sacked after only eight months in charge by the club’s owner, Roman Abramovich, whom he has since accused of broken promises and “quitting on me”.

Of Mourinho, the Spurs boss said: “We had a great personal and professional relationship before, that we don’t have now.

“I don’t think we need explanations on friendship and personal relationships. But our relationship broke down. I think we have the mutual respect for each other and we understand what we have been through cannot just disappear but it’s not like it was before. I don’t lose any sleep [over it].

“Our break-up point was because I was full of ambition to give him something extra [at Inter] and I wanted further involvement for the job I was doing at the time, which was scouting and match preparation. I felt I could give him much more so my initial idea was to keep working with him. But he didn’t feel the need for somebody near to him or in another position as an assistant and, because of that, it was decided it was time to continue our careers [apart].”

Villas-Boas was asked whether he talked to Mourinho. “No,” he replied. “We talked at the Premier League managers’ meeting when we were there on the 4th or 5th of August but not since then.”