Andre Villas-Boas Admits Kevin De Bruyne Nothing To Do With Him

It's somewhat-interesting-quote Friday! Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has admitted he has very little to do with the impending signing of Genk winger Kevin de Bruyne, and that Chelsea's long term plans are out of his hands:

You have to speak to the people from the club about [the de Bruyne deal]. It's not within my immediate projects. He's a player the club has scouted for some time. I'm a manager who respects club policy. A club has to look to the future, whether it's with this manager or another. I think Kevin is an extremely interesting player and is a good bet if the club finishes the situation

-Source: BBC.

It's pretty easy to twist that into making it seem as though Villas-Boas doesn't want the young Belgian, but if you're familiar with the way Chelsea are currently set up it's entirely sensible. The manager's job is to coach the first team, and de Bruyne's nowhere near first-team ready. While I'm sure that Director of Football Michael Emenalo would coordinate with Villas-Boas on the transfer of players who are coming directly into the squad (e.g. Gary Cahill), there's absolutely no reason for the manager to get involved with prospects like de Bruyne, because they're entirely outside his sphere of responsibility.

Also, it's always a good time to bring up how good a job Emenalo seems to be doing - he's made some great buys since stepping in as DoF, an appointment which met with heavy resistance from fans, and we don't mention him enough in these parts.

I guess that quote wasn't that interesting after all. Oh well.