ContinueAndre Villas-Boas has turned his attention to Chelsea’s Raul Meireles as his priority midfield signing following the departure of Luka Modric, reports suggest.
The Tottenham manager has confessed that the club have moved on from previous targets Yann M’Vila and Joao Moutinho, and would now like to bring his compatriot Meireles to White Hart Lane to help fill the void left by Luka Modric, The Daily Mail suggest.
29-year-old Meireles and Villas-Boas are no strangers. The Portuguese international worked under AVB at Porto before his 2010 move to Liverpool, and left Anfield the following summer to join Villas-Boas ill-fated revolution at Stamford Bridge, describing the chance to work with his old Porto manager “too good to turn down.” Meireles was reportedly fiercely loyal to Villas-Boas when things at Chelsea began to turn sour, and The Mail report that the Spurs boss would like to be reunited with the player for a third time.
The report comes after Villas-Boas’ admission that Tottenham Hotspur are no longer interested in Rennes midfielder Yann M’Vila. The Tottenham manager identified the necessity to replace Modric with someone of sufficient invention and craft to help fill the Croatian’s boots.
“He's an interesting player but I don't think he will join Tottenham,” Villas-Boas said of the tough-tacking French international. “He is a player of defensive characteristics. On the possible replacements for Luka, we are looking for a more creative player.
“I can't lie to you. We had initial interest in the player [M'Vila] but we have moved on from that one and are now looking for a player more creative,” the Daily Mail report.
“We think that we have certain players that offer those defensive characteristics in our team already.”
The 34-year-old manager also conceded that the club’s chances of landing Joao Moutinho were slim. The former Porto boss revealed that he knows how the club work when one of their highly-regarded players becomes a transfer target, and believes it would be very difficult to sign the player.
