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Jorge: Villas-Boas would shine at PSG

Andre-Villas Boas is being linked with the Paris Saint-Germain job © Getty Images

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Former Portugal boss Artur Jorge believes Tottenham manager Andre-Villas Boas has what it takes to succeed at Paris Saint-Germain if he should follow his compatriot into the Parc des Princes hot seat.

Jorge, 67, coached PSG on two occasions, winning the Ligue 1 title at the end of his first stint in 1994, the club's last championship win until this season's triumph under Carlo Ancelotti. Villas-Boas, 35, has emerged as the favourite to succeed Ancelotti in the French capital with the Guardian reporting on Monday evening officials of Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), which owns PSG, had held weekend-long talks with the Spurs boss' agent.

Currently on holiday in the Bahamas, Villas-Boas, whose contract in north London has two years to run, has given no indication as to his plans, but Jorge told Le Parisien he is confident his fellow countryman could make a successful short hop across the Channel.

"Today, PSG has become a great team and Villas-Boas is capable of coaching a big team," Jorge said. "When it comes down to it, it's the players who do great things on the pitch, and Villas-Boas will find them at PSG. He's a very young coach, but I see a great future for him. He's cut out for that."

Should Villas-Boas accept PSG's offer, which would likely be a single-year deal with a further year on option - the same contract offer Michael Laudrup turned down last week - he would have at his disposal a squad capable of making a big impact in the Champions League, a competition Spurs will miss out on again next season.

He will also inherit a dressing room packed with egos, and last season's leading scorer, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 31, is barely younger than his would-be boss. Jorge, however, believes ability and not age should be the deciding factor for the PSG powers-that-be.

"You need to have a good relationship with the players regardless of your age. Before, you had to win something significant to find yourself in the dug-out. Now it's different. If he's been given responsibility at clubs like Porto, Chelsea and Tottenham, it's because he has the ability. Since he left Mourinho, he's had a good career. If he finds the right words, the players will follow. Villas-Boas is very good."

After Laudrup stated his determination to stay at Swansea and with another reported target, Guus Hiddink, having seemingly decided to honour his contract at Anzhi Makhachkala, Villas-Boas has been eased into top spot on a 'wanted' list that has not featured a French name. Though the PSG board's hope to make a short-term appointment is seen as them preparing the ground for Arsene Wenger to take over when his Arsenal deal runs out in a year's time, legendary Auxerre coach Guy Roux told Le Parisien the Ligue 1 champions should have looked for a solution closer to home.

"It's a shame they haven't thought about taking a French coach, apart from Wenger of course. I don't know Villas-Boas very well, but is he really so much better than the French? By always looking for a foreign coach, eventually we're going to come across a guy who's incapable of adapting to Ligue 1. There are at least ten French coaches who have the ability to coach PSG.

"But certain people think that if a player costs tens of millions, he can only be coached by a foreigner who costs a lot of money. It's not coincidence that the two big clubs who want a foreign coach, Monaco and PSG, have foreign presidents. That said, the French system for educating coaches is one of the best. I have a lot of respect for Ancelotti, but he didn't do better than [Antoine] Kombouare in his first season."

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