Villas-Boas rules out Beckham move

Andre Villas-Boas has dashed the hopes Jermaine Defoe harboured for all of a few hours by quashing rumours he was lining up a move for perhaps the most high-profile footballer ever.

Defoe had said earlier yesterday that if one David Beckham wanted to join Tottenham, he would be welcomed as he is “a fantastic player and a credit to the game.” It's hardly expressing his hopes and dreams that he would join the club, but that was the line everyone ran with so we'll go with that too.

However, according to Sky Sports, Villas-Boas has dashed those hopes that Defoe appeared to hold so...dearly/fleetingly/not really by stating that Beckham would not be joining Spurs.

The 37-year-old becomes a free agent this weekend when he plays his last game for LA Galaxy with a host of clubs reportedly interested in signing him.

However, Villas-Boas has stated Spurs are not one of them

Naturally, given as he is in England now and so must do this, he gave the inevitable plaudits and the metaphorical backside-kissing talking about how good a player he is, how much he brings to English football and his experience.

However, he also said that “it would be good to have him back in Europe, but not here, no. I don't think so.”

Which is a bit like saying in a really polite way, he's not actually good enough to play at this level.