REVEALED The FOUR signings axed AVB didn't want at Tottenham as he chased big deals for Villa, Hulk and Moutinho

Andre Villas-Boas did not approve four of Tottenham’s seven summer signings and asked chairman Daniel Levy not to buy them.



Villas-Boas objected to the acquisitions of Erik Lamela, Nacer Chadli, Vlad Chiriches and Christian Eriksen, a quartet who cost Spurs a total of £56million, but his judgment was overruled.



The Portuguese manager asked his chairman to buy Hulk, Joao Moutinho and David Villa as he planned for life without Gareth Bale.



Not-so-magnificent seven: Andre Villas-Boas did not want four of Spurs' seven summer signings

Er, no: Erik Lamela was one of four Spurs signings not wanted by Villas-Boas

Not for me: Nacer Chadli was not a target of Villas-Boas either

None of these signings materialised and the £110m recruitment drive lies at the heart of a power struggle inside White Hart Lane which culminated in the sacking of Villas-Boas on Monday.



Of Tottenham’s seven recruits, Villas-Boas wanted only Paulinho, Etienne Capoue and Roberto Soldado. The rest were identified by Levy and technical director Franco Baldini.



Although the manager approved of Levy’s decision to appoint a technical director, the relationship between Baldini and Villas-Boas soon disintegrated and the Portuguese was left with players he had not approved.

Not a target: Christian Eriksen was signed from Ajax, but not on Villas-Boas' say-so

Vlad news for Andre: It is thought Villas-Boas did not fancy Romanian defender Vlad Chiriches

Axed: Villas-Boas was sacked after Sunday's 5-0 home defeat by Liverpool

Villas-Boas did want Willian from Anzhi Makhachkala but Tottenham were beaten at the 11th hour by Chelsea in the race for the £30m Brazilian.



Spurs then turned to Eriksen and paid Ajax £11.5m for the Dane, who started the season brightly but he was another player the manager did not want. More annoyingly for Villas-Boas, several of those he requested failed to appear.



Hulk had been desperate to leave Zenit St Petersburg and join with Villas-Boas, who he had worked with at Porto. Moutinho was also keen to be reunited with his former Porto boss, despite the collapse of a move to Spurs in August 2012, which left Villas-Boas furious.



Target: Villas-Boas had asked for Hulk, of Zenit, to be signed during the summer

Wanted man: Villas-Boas had also asked to be reunited with Joao Moutinho, now of Monaco, whom he managed during his successful spell at Porto

The midfielder did exit Porto last summer and moved to Monaco along with James Rodriguez in a double deal worth £60m.



Hulk and Moutinho would have been expensive but Villa moved from Barcelona to Atletico Madrid for only £2m and has scored six in his last seven La Liga games.



Of his four unwanted signings, Lamela proved the most contentious, mainly because he cost a club-record £30m and as a left-footed winger came the closest to a direct replacement for Bale.

Bargain: David Villa cost Atletico Madrid just £2m from Barcelona. He, too, was wanted by Villas-Boas

Lamela made two Premier League starts under Villas-Boas, along with four appearances from the bench, and is yet to score in the competition.



Eriksen and Chadli have not scored in the Premier League either, starting five and six games respectively, while Chiriches has started six league games and scored in the win over Fulham.

