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28 March 2024

Chelsea boss bides time over Modric

Villas-Boas has won both his friendly matches since arriving at Chelsea. (FILE)

Published
By AFP

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has warned Tottenham that he is prepared to wait until the last minute to sign Luka Modric.

Villas-Boas has had two bids of over £20 million rejected by Spurs as the north London club fight to keep Modric, but the Croatia midfielder is desperate to move to Stamford Bridge and is reported to be ready to hand in an official transfer request.

An already delicate situation has been made even more tricky as Modric believes Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has gone back on a promise to let him leave if a bigger club made an offer.

The Croatian missed his side’s friendly defeat against Kaiser Chiefs in South Africa on Saturday, reportedly with an injury, and it would be no surprise if the saga drags on right up to the end of the transfer window on August 31.

Villas-Boas made it clear that he is willing to let the situation play out, while also looking for alternative options such as West Ham’s Scott Parker and Porto’s Joao Moutinho.

“Modric plays in one of the positions we are looking to strengthen. If it happens it happens, if it doesn’t happen it doesn’t happen,” Villas-Boas said, after Saturday’s 1-0 friendly win at Portsmouth.

“It does not depend on us. Spurs have a right to defend their player and property. We just have to wait.

“We respect whatever position Tottenham takes and the price we are talking about is an incredible amount of money.”

Asked about the chances of landing Parker as well as Modric, the former Porto coach added: “You know what the situation is, it is public. You can understand the position that the club has taken.

“At the moment we are scanning the market for everything and not just those two players.”

Bringing former Chelsea midfielder Parker back to the Bridge would fill the void left by Michael Essien’s injury.

The Ghana international has been ruled out for six months with a knee injury, which Villas-Boas admits came as a big blow to everybody at the club.

“Michael is a fantastic person and a fantastic individual,” the former Chelsea scout said.

“He was one of the people I kept in contact with for a long time after I left and I always considered him a friend and it was a pity for him to get another injury like this.

“I think it is a big blow because of what he represents and what he represents as a person.

“Six months is a lot of time and for sure bearing in mind this was already a sector we were looking to strengthen we might need to move in the market.”

Villas-Boas has now won both his friendly matches since arriving at Chelsea after former Blues defender Tal Ben Haim scored a first half own goal to settle the Fratton Park friendly.

“It is one of the most difficult grounds to visit and of course Portsmouth always presents a good challenge,” Villas-Boas added.

“There are some positive signs and some negatives are always on hand.

“But it was mostly positive, bearing in mind that we used two different teams in each half.

“It is good for everybody to have a run and this is most likely to be the players we take on tour to Asia, plus Slobodan Rajkovic, Alex and Petr Cech who will also join us.”