By Darren Lewis
Andre Villas-Boas is keen on Chelsea midfielder Raul Meireles.
The Spurs boss swooped to take the 29-year-old to Stamford Bridge in a £12million deal from Liverpool last summer.
Meireles, who also served under Villas-Boas at Portuguese giants Porto in 2010, is known to have been one of his countryman’s loyalists last season.
He is also known to have been left upset by the Blues’ decision to sack Villas-Boas last March.
Now he is in the thinking of his former boss, who wants to move quickly to replace the outgoing Luka Modric.
Villas-Boas revealed that a deal with Real Madrid over the departure of the Croatian is only a matter of time.
He said: “The targets are identified, then it’s a question of how quickly can we close the deals.”
However, the Spurs manager claims to have ended his pursuit of two potential midfield newcomers, Portugal international Joao Moutinho and Yann M’Vila of France.
Porto schemer Moutinho is seen as too expensive while Tottenham already have players in defensive midfield, where Rennes star M’Vila would operate.
Villas-Boas said of M’Vila: “He’s an interesting player but I don’t think he will join Tottenham. 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.
“We think that we have certain players that offer those defensive
characteristics in our team already.”
Porto want £30million for Moutinho and Villas-Boas said: “On Moutinho, I have experience of Porto – it is a club that sells expensive, but they sell a good product.
“They have a pride on defending that kind of brand. They know what sells from them triumphs at other clubs.
“It has been like that with numerous amounts of players and that is why it is very difficult.”
