Everybody at the highest levels of the soccer world knows the nature of the game, so your manager if one-year gets a call from one of Europe’s elite clubs, there’s no use begging for loyalty. There’s no laying on a sob story where hopes and dreams become weights and expectations. If you’re at Everton and Manchester United come calling for your coach, you sigh, hand over the phone, and go find Roberto Martínez.
Paris Saint-Germain isn’t Manchester United, but there are few clubs in world soccer that offer a better job. A spectacular city, strong league, good talent base, Champions League soccer and an AmEx black card with “WHOEVER WE WANT TO BE” below the number? What more could you ask for, especially given the patience they showed Carlo Ancelotti over the past season-plus?
Thus it’s no surprise names like André Villas-Boas, Michael Laudrup, and (of course) Guus Hiddink have been linked with the position at the Parc de Princes. Hiddink’s also said to be close to a contract extension with Anzhi Makhachkala, so the Dutch vagabond may be merely be leveraging his Qatari friends to get more money. There is, after all, a reason he ended up in Dagestan in the first place. Add in Hiddink’s recent failures with the Russian and Turkish national teams, and he looks like the contractor you hire after a last minute cancellation.
Laudrup is a more intriguing proposition. The Danish playing icon has becomes a bit of a wanderer himself, having coached in four places in the last six years. His current position at Swansea City saw him lead the club to the League Cup, an unexpected honor that will see the Wales-based English Premier League side into Europe next season. Of course, Swansea faded in the season’s last months, finishing with more losses than wins and a negative difference. Added to his larger body of work, and PSG looks like a huge step up for Laudrup.
That’s not meant to demean the Swansea boss. PSG is just a very high standard. They’re capable of luring coaches like Carlo Ancelotti. When you’re working at those heights, you don’t need to accept unnecessary risk. The Parisians could go from Jurgen Klopp to Antonio Conte to Vitor Pereira, offering their job to every hot and accomplished coach in Europe. There’s a long list of bosses sitting near the top of their leagues that would listen to PSG’s call.
All of which brings us to André Villas-Boas, who just finished his first year at Spurs. Although Tottenham failed to replicate their top-four finish, they claimed more points in 2012-13 then they did the previous season. Given the obstacles Villas-Boas overcame (namely, losing Luka Modric), few would have blamed him if Spurs let the top four drift away.
Given his age, his experience at Porto, and our new context on his Chelsea struggles, “AVB” seems a fine choice for Paris Saint-Germain. In fact, if they were targeting a man to enact a long-term vision, there may be no better candidate. At 35, Villas-Boas still has youth’s blind ambition, a passion that match’s PSG’s potential.
The bigger question, one that also applies to Laudrup, is whether Villas-Boas would want to leave his new job after only one season. For each man, it’s not an uncommon thing, with Villas-Boas leaving Porto and Chelsea before seeing year two while Laudrup’s Swansea tenure is tied for his longest since leaving Brondby in 2006. Both men have ambitiously climbed the coaching ladder, and with each experiencing recent failures (Chelsea for Villas-Boas, Spartak Moscow for Laudrup), there new club’s faith wasn’t necessarily a given.
Turning your back on that type of job -- a Premier League post, where recent success has eliminated initial doubts -- is no frivolity, especially after you’ve settled in. And after their 2012-13 seasons, both Villas-Boas and Laudrup have settled in. Neither persist in an evaluation phase. Their clubs are pushing into 2013-14 with confidence.
To turn their backs on that would take a special offer, one that would have to be handled with care lest any bridges be burned. Even then, there will still be a question of loyalty. Do you give your current club one, maybe two more years in appreciation for the opportunity? Or do you expect them to understand, as Villas-Boas did with Porto two years ago, that a club level of club only comes knocking every so often?