AVB will pay for missing Moutinho deal

On the face of it, Spurs had a decent transfer window.

Mousa Dembele was good value at £15m (€18.9m) and it will have been satisfying to beat Liverpool to the signings of both Gylfi Sigurdsson and Clint Dempsey. But you can bet Andre Villas-Boas already has a sinking feeling over the failure to secure Joao Moutinho for the midfield.

Villas-Boas is already under pressure after Spurs failed to win any of their first three games. His failure at Chelsea means the fans will not be patient if there are early signs his approach is not working. But the manager’s success depends, above all, on the players at his disposal. Villas-Boas is still the same guy who was rated the best young coach in Europe in summer 2011. The big difference between that Villas-Boas and the one at Chelsea or Tottenham is that the Porto Villas-Boas had players like Falcao and Joao Moutinho in his team.