Andre Villas-Boas blasts Vlad Chiriches' agent for comment that Tottenham move is a stepping stone to future Chelsea switch
Spurs boss insists that the White Hart Lane outfit are not a feeder club for anyone and has spoken to the defender about his representatives comments
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Your support makes all the difference.Andre Villas-Boas was incensed by a suggestion from Vlad Chiriches' representative that the defender only moved to Tottenham with a view to impressing Chelsea, insisting the club are “not a stepping stone to anybody”.
The north Londoners won the race for the highly-rated 23-year-old late in the summer transfer window, forking out £8.5million to acquire the centre-back from Steaua Bucharest.
Chiriches has impressed in his fleeting appearances for Spurs so far, with fans voting him man of the match in Thursday's 2-0 Europa League win at Anzhi Makhachkala.
Those supporters will, though, have been less than enamoured by comments made by Romania international's representative.
Victor Becali suggested Chelsea would be willing to pay a large sum for Chiriches if he settles well in England over the next two years, saying Blues boss Jose Mourinho has been aware of the centre-back since his time as Real Madrid coach.
Having seen Luka Modric and Gareth Bale exit White Hart Lane in recent times, Villas-Boas was understandably angered by the remarks.
"Obviously the comments are completely disproportionate and out of reality," the Portuguese said.
"I have spoken to the player, told the player to speak to the agent and we have acted accordingly.
"We consider ourselves a big club. We're not a stepping stone to anybody.
"We don't expect Becali to retract himself because it is not part of his character, but it was completely out of proportion the comments that he made."
Chiriches is likely to return to the bench when Tottenham's attention returns to domestic action against West Ham on Sunday.
Spurs head into the weekend third in the Barclays Premier League, just two points behind early pacesetters Arsenal.
It is a start to the season that pleased Villas-Boas, who will be even happier if they can collect three points on Sunday.
"It has been good, but it will be excellent if we manage to win against West Ham," he said.
"I think 16 points out of 21, and playing Arsenal and Chelsea, would be a good start for us.
"I think that game against West Ham will be a decisive game for us, to ensure that we have made a great, great start to the season.
"I think if we manage to do this with the fact we are not suffering and we are scoring also a lot, it will be major motivation going forward after the October stop.
"Also the October fixtures are a little bit easier for us and there is no difficult trip to a big team so we would like to progress from then on."
PA
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