William Gallas was ostracised by Andre Villas-Boas at Tottenham.
Former Tottenham Hotspur defender William Gallas has told football magazine FourFourTwo that Andre Villas-Boas’ treatment of the former Arsenal and Chelsea defender left him unhappy in north London.
Gallas, 40, spent three years with Spurs between 2010 and 2013, the final 2012-13 season being under the guidance of Villas-Boas as the former Chelsea boss guided Tottenham to fifth in the Premier League.
However, it was not all fun and games for French defender Gallas, who was forced to play in Spurs’ Europa League games for the second half of the club’s 2012-13 campaign without being told why.
Gallas, who retired in 2014 with Australian A-League side Perth Glory, spoke of an incident that involved an away trip to Championship side Leeds in January 2013 that saw Gallas told one thing and then left to work out the other.
“I picked up an injury near Christmas [2012] during that first season when Andre was at Tottenham. I went back to France to get some treatment, but when I came back to London something seemed to have changed,” Gallas said.
“When I recovered he initially said it would be good for me to play in the FA Cup against Leeds, but later on he changed his mind. I thought, ‘Hold on William, just check the squad list, as you never know.’ And my name wasn’t even there!
“Onwards I more or less only played in Europa League games. Maybe he thought I was too old – and I would have understood it – but I didn’t get an explanation. So that made me pretty unhappy.”
After the turn of 2013 and the second half of the season, Gallas was afforded just two Premier League substitute appearances despite making 16 appearances in England’s top flight up until January that term.
During his three-year spell at White Hart Lane, Gallas made 81 appearances in all competitions and found the back of the net once in that time, scoring against former side Chelsea in a 4-2 loss in October 2012.
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