Andre Villas-Boas
AVB has been shown the door Reuters

Andre Villas-Boas wanted to leave Tottenham as much as Daniel Levy wanted him out, a Portuguese journalist with connections to the manager has claimed. The pair have failed to see eye to eye on a number of problems within the club.

Villas-Boas left Spurs by mutual consent on Monday, just 24 hours after the side was battered 5-0 by Liverpool. It was their second big loss in under a month and despite being just five points from fourth place, the chairman took the move to show the manager the exit door at White Hart Lane.

Some have slammed the move: Villas-Boas took the mantel as Tottenham's most successful Premier League manager, and second most successful in the history of the club. With limited candidates available to take over the managerial position, the club have placed assistant manager Tim Sherwood in charge for now as they seek candidates in time for the January transfer window to open.

And while it was initially believed that Tottenham wanted Villas-Boas out multiple reports are now claiming that the Portuguese tactician also wanted a move away from the club after a series of disagreements with Levy.

The Telegraph reports that during their conversation after the Liverpool loss, when the chairman brought up the possibility of playing two strikers up front, Villas-Boas rejected this on the grounds that he did not want to use Emmanuel Adebayor.

He has made it clear this season that the striker is not wanted at White Hart Lane and would not budge over whether he could prove to be useful in the future.

Meanwhile Desporto journalist Goncalo Lopes claims that Villas-Boas wanted to quit the job as Spurs manager because he did not believe he had the confidence of the club's board, and was already making plans for a future in France.

He was connected to a move to Paris Saint Germain in the summer but chose to stay at Tottenham on Levy's assurances that he would have money to spend.

But the chairman has often been ruthless in his negotiating to the point of missing out on important targets over relatively small sums of money.

Villas-Boas has seen targets such as David Villa, Joao Moutinho, Willian and Leandro Damaio fall by the waistline as the club refuses to budge on their asking price. In Moutinho's case Levy reportedly refused to pay €500,000 more on top of the €31 million bid that had already been made.

There have also been questions over whether Villas-Boas was accepting of losing big talent such as Luka Modric, Rafael van der Vaart and Gareth Bale in the season and a half since coming to north London. That, coupled with the fear of being fired when results did not go Spurs' way has seen the manager deciding that an exit is the best option.

He will reportedly wait until the end of the season now before making his next move.