Owner Roman Abramovich faces £20m bill to axe Andre Villas-Boas

Posted Tuesday, November 22, 2011 by The Sun

ROMAN ABRAMOVICH will have to stump up £20million to axe Andre Villas-Boas.

The under-fire Chelsea boss still has 2½ years to run on his £150,000-a- week deal.

It was only five months ago Blues owner Abramovich paid £13.3m in compensation to land the Portuguese.

That means the cost of his reign — if cut short — will be more than £33m.

Villas-Boas, 34, thinks he is safe as he does not believe Red Rom will want to pay him off.

But AVB is under huge pressure after Sunday's 2-1 home defeat by Liverpool — a fourth defeat in 12 Prem League games. They are now 12 points behind leaders Manchester City.

However, he could be in for a nasty shock as the Chelsea owner has already splashed out an incredible £69m on compensation fees since 2004.

Abramovich has already waved goodbye to six previous managers since taking control of Chelsea in 2003 and only stand-in boss Guus Hiddink ever reached the end of his contract.

Claudio Ranieri and Avram Grant both had three years left on their contracts when the axe fell. Jose Mourinho had 20 months to go on his deal and was given an £18m pay-off.

Luiz Felipe Scolari was axed just seven months into a two-year contract worth more than £5m a year. Carlo Ancelotti is still being paid for the final year of his £130,000-a-week deal.

So as Villas-Boas prepares for a big Champions League trip to Bayer Leverkusen tomorrow, the knowledge he has the worst record of all Abramovich's bosses will weigh heavily on his mind.