Porto chief tips Villas-Boas for Inter

Porto president Pinto da Costa believes Chelsea coach Andre Villas-Boas will join Inter Milan if he leaves the English Premier League club.

Villas-Boas, 34, took over at Chelsea in June after guiding Porto to an impressive treble of the Liga Sagres, Portuguese Cup and Europa League in 2010/11.

He has struggled to reproduce such success during his first season at Stamford Bridge – Chelsea are fifth in the Premier League standings, 17 points back from leaders Manchester City.

Serie A club Inter were reportedly unable to secure Villas-Boas’ services because of a 15 million-euro release clause in his Porto contract.

But if Chelsea were to dismiss him, Da Costa thinks the San Siro would be an ideal destination for his former employee.

“If he were to leave Chelsea, I am sure he will become the next coach at Inter,” Da Costa told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“He has the right personality to coach the Nerazzurri.”

“In the past, I said the same thing about (Jose) Mourinho. However, in my opinion Villas-Boas made a mistake to leave Porto so soon.”

“He thought that this was a unique opportunity, but he would surely get other offers like that.”

Da Costa, 74, believes Villas-Boas needs time to put together a team capable of mounting a Premier League title challenge.

“I think that Villas-Boas is doing well at Chelsea,” he said.

“He only needs time to fine-tune the squad, but this is impossible when there are players exchanging text messages with Mourinho.”

“The only thing that could make him leave Chelsea will be the team’s failure to qualify for the Champions League.”

Inter appointed Gian Piero Gasperini as coach at the start of the 2011/12 season.

After failing to record a victory in five matches, he was sacked in September and replaced by Claudio Ranieri.