Manchester City's early transfer business has pleased new boss Manuel Pellegrini, with Jesus Navas and Fernandinho welcome additions.
The Blues have already added two more creative talents to their ranks ahead of the 2013/14 campaign, with focus very much locked on the final third of the field at present.
Pellegrini is delighted to have arrived at the Etihad Stadium with a summer recruitment drive well underway, with the Chilean having helped to identify top targets.
He believes World Cup winner Navas and Brazil international Fernandinho will prove to be shrewd signings, with both capable of producing match-winning displays on their day.
Pellegrini told City's official website: "Jesus is a player I know well from La Liga and he is someone I have admired for a long time.
"He is quick, has excellent technique and I think the City fans will enjoy watching him play. He will provide a variety of attacking options for us and he can also score goals as well as create them for others. He is an excellent signing for the club.
"Jesus is a world and European champion and a regular squad member in a very special Spain team."
On Fernandinho, he added: "I made Fernandinho one of the top priorities. He has impressed me on a number of occasions over the past few years and is another player I've taken a keen interest in.
"He is an experienced international who will further strengthen our midfield and I think he will be well suited to the Premier League."
Strong
On the squad he has inherited at City, Pellegrini said: "Both Jesus and Fernandinho add pace and skill to what is already a very talented and successful squad.
"I am looking forward to working with both our new signings and to working with the players who have already won a Premier League title together.
"We have a very strong pool and together we aim to achieve great things."
The Welsh forward has been the subject of constant speculation regarding a move away from White Hart Lane, with Real reportedly leading the chase for the 23-year-old.
Villas-Boas has been keen to stress that chairman Daniel Levy has given him assurances that Bale will not be sold - and he said in an interview in his native Portugal that he has no reason to doubt that is the case.
"The chairman said that we are not open to offers, whatever they are, and that the player will stay," he told Portuguese newspaper O Jogo.
"In football anything can happen, but these are the guarantees given to me."
Bale was named the PFA Players' Player and Young Player of the Year last season after an impressive season which saw him net 21 league goals.
And Villas-Boas revealed that a heart-to-heart between the manager and his star man may have helped propel him to those heights.
"There was a moment last season when he came to me because he was not comfortable out on the pitch," he went on.
"I do not know if it was my response or that he was glad to relieve the stress, but after that he became confident and played with freedom.
"He felt important and finished the year in style."
Jose Mourinho's return to Chelsea means that Villas-Boas will go head-to-head with his old boss next season when he faces the Europa League winners.
The 35-year-old served as an assistant to Mourinho at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan and eventually occupied the Stamford Bridge hotseat himself during an unsuccessful eight-month spell.
And while he admits that he and the two-time Champions League winner have had little communication of late, he still has the utmost respect for Mourinho.
He said: "Although we've grown apart, I think we are unified by professional respect."
