It was the only choice. Above all, because I want a smooth transition from a sporting point of view and we have this need to meet with the titles as soon as possible. We could have gone to the market more aggressively, but that could imply a more accentuated delay in the implementation processes of the sporting philosophy", admitted the ex-coach of the 'blue and white' football team, in an interview with the Lusa agency.

Villas-Boas worked with the ex-goalkeeper of Alavés, Athletic Bilbao, FC Barcelona or Valencia from 2019 to 2020, when he was in command of the French team from Marseille, the last of the seven clubs he has coached in little more than a decade as head coach.

"Since Zubizarreta fits precisely into what I am looking for in terms of culture and sporting organisation and I also already know his good work, he leaves this interregnum he was doing to embrace this project. It is a time for change", he defined.

Andoni Zubizarreta, 62 years old, has been inactive since he was sporting director of Marseille, between 2016 and 2020, replicating the functions previously performed with Athletic Bilbao (2001-2004) and FC Barcelona (2010-2015), Spanish clubs sustained in training.

"He has this experience, the result of the FC Barcelona and La Masia culture. In Marseille this was no longer happening, because the training fed the main team very little, namely when he arrived there, which was at a time of purchase and change of ownership, in which there was more money from the owner for investment", noted André Villas-Boas.

Zubizarreta will have five directors under his command, including Jorge Costa, ex-Portuguese international central defender and captain of FC Porto, who will head professional football, or Pedro Silva, master in high-performance training and a bet to lead performance.

"There is a radical change in the plan of the sporting philosophy, because the objective is to look at who is inside [FC Porto] before going to prospecting. In this field of talent detection, we will have to be much more discerning and find the best footballers in the best possible markets and where we can compete financially", he acknowledged.

The areas of prospecting, training and women's football are added to the organisational chart planned by André Villas-Boas, 46 years old, whose "sporting skills" extracted in the past in technical positions will be useful for the reformatting of the sporting direction of the national vice-champion, with a view to a "more agile and effective decision-making capacity".

"We have joined competences in different areas, which we believe are necessary for FC Porto. It has been gratifying to see the increasingly massive adherence and a good response from the fans. Many people have exchanged more comfortable personal and professional situations to embark on this journey with the same spirit of mission that I have", he stressed.

The elections of the social bodies for the four-year period 2024-2028 will take place on Saturday, from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm, at the Estádio do Dragão, in Porto, and are disputed by three candidacies, led by Pinto da Costa (list A), president of the club since 1982, André Villas-Boas (B) and the businessman and professor Nuno Lobo (C), who was defeated in the 2020 electoral act.

"All candidates should be treated in a transparent, rigorous and honest way in the operational and communicational plan. This is how we have felt it. It is up to the delegates of the polling stations to rise so that any more sensitive issue does not become a legal or bureaucratic process or can call into question electoral decisions", he appealed.

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