Villas-Boas coy on new Modric bid

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp revealed on Wednesday that Levy had contacted the Blues to reiterate there was no chance of them signing the Croatian playmaker, urging them to "put an end" to one of the longest transfer sagas of the summer.

But Chelsea boss Villas-Boas would not be drawn on whether Levy's intervention was enough to deter him, saying: "I just have to speak to the owner (Roman Abramovich) when this kind of thing happens. When there's an offer, there's a counter-offer and then you reach an agreement. Modric's name is already out too much in the press. Let's leave it."

He added: "He's Harry Redknapp's player. He's not my player, unfortunately."

Villas-Boas is also in the market for a left-back to provide back-up and competition to Ashley Cole and confirmed he had attempted a raid on former club Porto for Alvaro Pereira.

Uruguay star Pereira did not travel to Monaco with the Europa League-winners for Friday night's European Super Cup clash with Barcelona following what was a reported £16.6million bid from Chelsea.

But Villas-Boas insisted he did not know why Pereira had been left at home but admitted the two clubs were "massively apart" in their valuations.

The Portuguese said he was "not very confident" of reaching an agreement for a player who was a key component of the Porto side the new Chelsea boss led to a quadruple last season, as well as the Uruguay team which lifted the Copa America and reached the semi-finals of the 2010 World Cup.

Further arrivals would almost certainly trigger departures from Stamford Bridge, although Villas-Boas insisted he had no intention of letting Florent Malouda leave, saying: "We can't let ourselves sell talent of this quality."

Malouda scored the winner against West Brom on Saturday after losing his place in the starting XI and will be hoping that is enough for a recall against Norwich this weekend.

Source: PA

Source: PA