By Chris Mendes
Bobby Robson took him under his wing when he was 16 - and now, just over 16 years later Andre Villas-Boas is football's most sought after manager.
Allow us to explain what all the fuss is about...
Born in Porto on 17 October 1977, he harbored ambitions of a coaching career in football from a young age when he considered various P.E courses as his way in before making a decision which changed his life as a 16 year-old.
At the time, he was living in the same apartment block in his hometown as then Porto manager Sir Bobby Robson - and decided to take advantage by dropping a letter into his mailbox. He explained in his own words, why Sir Bobby should use his favourite player, Domingos Paciência more often.
Ironically, Paciência is now the manager of Sporting Braga. The same man who Villas-Boas defeated in this year's Europa League final.
Back to Sir Bobby at Porto, who was so impressed with the letter he received, that he challenged Villas-Boas to collate statistics from Porto's next few games - the results of which were so extensive and eagle-eyed he was offered a trainee position with the club's youth set up.
Under Robson's guidance he achieved his UEFA C coaching license as a 17 year-old in Scotland before coaching the British Virgin Islands for a short period aged 21.
Minors are not usually permitted to take the UEFA coaching courses but Robson persuaded the authorities to make an exception while he also insisted he spent time at Ipswich watching George Burley training his team there.
Jose Mourinho meanwhile, was working for Porto as Robson's interpreter when Villas-Boas first joined the club but departed for Barcelona along with Sir Bobby two years later. When Mourinho returned to Porto as manager in 2002, he made Villas-Boas his opposition scout.
They struck up a winning formula, enjoying successive trebles including the UEFA Cup and Champions League trophies, so it was little surprise when Jose moved to Stamford Bridge that he brought with him the man he called his "eyes and ears".
In London, Mourinho's increased level of trust allowed him to enjoy even more responsibility: as well as scouting the opposition, Villas-Boas contributed to tactics by providing specific strategies that could get the better of their opponents.
After six trophies in three years with Mourinho at Chelsea, he took a nine month break to study art of management when Jose left the Bridge - returning to the Special One's coaching staff in 2008 when he was appointed manager at Inter.
Again, they enjoyed success together in their first season, winning the Serie A title and the Italian Super Cup but Villas-Boas abandoned Mourinho's coaching staff in October 2009 to pursue his own career in management, several months before the Special One secured an historic treble with Inter.
Villas-Boas, meanwhile, moved to Portuguese strugglers Academica when their manager departed with the team cut adrift at the foot of the Portuguse top tier.
For the remainder of the season, he helped steer them to an 11th place finish playing a brand of attractive football that won him plaudits all over the country. He ended the campaign ten points clear of safety and reached the Portuguese Cup semi-final, losing only to a late goal against Porto.
His success at Academica made him hot favourite to fill the vacant managerial position at giants Sporting Lisbon, but he moved back to Porto as manager instead.
Villas-Boas began his first year as manager with a Portuguese Super Cup victory over Benfica - proving the catalyst for an unbeaten 30 game league campaign which saw Porto collect 84 points out of 90, a new Portuguese record.
He's also guided them to the Europa League crown and the final of the Portuguese Cup, which they'll contest with Guimaraes this coming weekend.
BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS
The only black mark against Villas-Boas' name appears to be his spectacularly poor record as manager of the British Virgin Islands in 2000/01: two games and two defeats, scoring one and conceeding 14. But a quick search for recent results will tell you they lost 17-0 to the Dominican Republic in October 2010. Perhaps he did well, after all.
SIMILARITIES TO JOSE MOURINHO
They both worked as opposition scouts in the early parts of their careers although the similarities stop there. Villas-Boas plays a more attacking style of football and by his own admission, is rather more humble. Only this week, he was full of praise for Barca manager Pep Guardiola, so perhaps it wont be too long before we see him and Jose going head-to-head for La Liga.
ANDRE VILLAS-BOAS' RECORD BREAKING SEASON WITH PORTO IN NUMBERS
36 - consecutive games unbeaten across all competitions
84 - highest points tally in a 30 game Portuguese season
14 - most European victories in one season by a Portuguese club
21 - biggest points margin over second place in Portuguese league
16 - most consecutive victories in Portuguses league
33 - youngest manager to win a major European trophy
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