AVB Talks About Luka Modric, Juan Mata And Possible Arrivals And Departures At Chelsea

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Stamford Bridge boss expects to be busy over the next week.

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Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas will be a busy boy in the next week until the transfer window closes.

The Blues boss is planning for new arrivals and departures, hopes to sign Luka Modric and has to integrate Juan Mata into his midfield.

Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy, has contacted his west London rivals to reiterate there was no chance of them signing the Croatian playmaker.

But AVB was particularly coy over whether this will deter him from making a fresh bid for the 25-year-old.

“I just have to speak to the owner (Roman Abramovich) when this kind of thing happens, ” he said.

“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’s Harry Redknapp’s player. He’s not my player, unfortunately.”

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

The Uruguay international did not travel to Monaco with the Europa League-winners for Friday’s European Super Cup clash with Barcelona following a £16.6million bid from Chelsea.

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

“He has tremendous influence in the Uruguayan international team,” said the Chelsea boss.

“He beat the record twice for games played in Porto – not last year because he had a shoulder problem.

“He has the versatility as well. He can play on the inside in midfield, on the left of midfield or at left-back.”

Versatility also attracted Villas-Boas to new signing Juan Mata, who yesterday completed the formalities of his reported £24million move from Valencia.

It was Chelsea’s first mega-money deal of a summer that had seen their transfer activity overshadowed by that of Manchester City, Manchester United and even Liverpool.

“Criticism was coming from all fronts at a lack of market activity, so you can lay off us now,” Villas-Boas joked.

“This will be one of the biggest challenges of his (Mata’s) career coming to the Premier League, and this is a step up for him, as he’s admitted.

Further arrivals would almost certainly trigger departures from Stamford Bridge, although Villas-Boas insisted he had no intention of letting Florent Malouda leave.

“As we are speaking about the number of goals and assists that Mata has made at Valencia, let’s speak about the number that Malouda has made for Chelsea,” AVB retorted.

“We can’t let ourselves sell talent of this quality.”

More Stories Alvaro Pereira André Villas-Boas AVB Chelsea FC Florent Malouda Juan Mata Luka Modric