Dos Santos: I’m willing to leave Spurs for nothing in six months’ time

Giovani dos Santos has warned Tottenham that would be happy to leave on a free transfer in six months’ time if Spurs do not resolve his future at White Hart Lane this summer.

The 23-year-old has scored three goals in 30 appearances for Spurs since moving from Barcelona to the north London outfit in a €6m (£4.7m) deal in June 2008.

The Mexico international, who been capped 59 times, struggled to break into the first-team under former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp and has spent loan spells at Ipswich Town, Galatasaray and Racing Santander over the past four seasons.

Andre Villas-Boas replaced Redknapp as Spurs manager earlier this month, and Dos Santos insisted the decision on his immediate future at White Hart Lane does not rest with the forward.

“I’m either leaving the club this summer, or I’ll sign for another club for free in six months’ time,” dos Santos told Medio Tiempo.

“I am very calm [about my future]. I have a contract with Tottenham and I don’t know what will happen. I might leave the club. I’m at a good team, but I want to play.

“However, it’s not my decision as to whether Tottenham sell me or hold on to me.”

Andre Villas-Boas factfile

• An amateur player in his teens with Ramaldense and Clube Marechal Gomes da Costa, Villas-Boas never played professional football, laying the groundwork for a coaching career with a spell as a teenage talent scout during Sir Bobby Robson’s spell as coach of Porto in the mid-1990s.

• Still in his 20s, he took on a role as technical director with the British Virgin Islands in 2000, but was back working with Porto’s youth players by the time Jose Mourinho took him into his inner circle following his appointment as Porto coach in January 2002.

• Initially detailed to scout upcoming opponents, he followed ‘The Special One’ from success to success at Porto, Chelsea and Internazionale before striking out on his own as coach of Academica in October 2009.

• An 11th-placed finish in his only season in Coimbra was enough to persuade Porto to bring him in as Jesualdo Ferreira’s replacement; hired in June 2010, he became the club’s youngest ever coach aged just 32.

• Villas-Boas oversaw a memorable 2010-11 campaign at the Estádio do Dragão, becoming the first Portuguese to guide a side through a Liga campaign unbeaten, winning the Super Cup, national championship and Portuguese Cup as well as the Uefa Europa League after beating SC Braga in the Dublin final.

• He joined Chelsea on a three-year deal in June 2011 but was sacked in March 2012 following a poor string of results.