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Tottenham were today closing in on a deal to sign Porto midfielder Joao Moutinho - after leaving the field clear for Chelsea to land Brazilian schemer Oscar.

Andre Villas-Boas, who has already completed the captures of Gylfi Sigurdsson and Jan Vertonghen, is on the brink of adding Moutinho to give him the dressing room disciple he lacked during his short-lived spell at Chelsea.

And that has left the Blues as odds-on to capture Oscar, with Tottenham sources insisting the club pulled out of any interest in the South American at the end of last week.

Spurs had been tracking the Internacional midfielder and made an initial £11million bid for the 20-year-old.

But as the move for Moutinho became more concrete, Spurs switched targets and White Hart Lane sources are adamant Tottenham told Internacional they were no longer interested in the youngster three days ago.

That leaves Chelsea the favourites to get their man although suggestions of a £25m deal having been struck appear slightly off target.

Oscar's agent, Carlos Meinberg, told Brazilian paper Terra: "Chelsea did offer 25m (£19.8m) but there is still no agreement between the clubs.

"That may happen in the next few days. Oscar's other agent, Giuliano Bertolucci, will travel to England to finalise the remaining details.

"Tottenham also made an offer, but he should accept Chelsea's offer as there is more exposure there."

Spurs will fund the likely £22m capture of the 25-year-old Moutinho, a huge success under Villas-Boas as he guided Porto to an unbeaten season in 2010-11, by the imminent sale of Luka Modric to Real Madrid.

Madrid have offered £28m plus former Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho but Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is sticking to his demands for a package valued nearer £35m in order to assent to the Croatian's departure.

Levy has made it clear he will not sell to a Premier League rival - both Chelsea and Manchester United were keen on Modric - and while the negotiations are continuing it seems a deal will be reached in the next few days.

Levy also seems to be getting close to reaching an agreement with Manchester City to turn Emmanuel Adebayor's loan deal in N17 into a permanent move.

(Image: Action Images)

City need to offload Adebayor - and Bosnian Edin Dzeko, a target for Bayern Munich and AC Milan - in order to find space for Arsenal's want-away Dutch skipper Robin Van Persie - and appear ready to accept a £5m bid for the Togo striker, who will bank a huge signing-on fee to get his wages more in line with Tottenham's normal policy.

AVB will run rule over Kyle

Tottenham’s new boss Andre Villas-Boas wants a good look at Kyle Naughton before deciding on a £5million bid from Southampton.

Saints are willing to pay close to Spurs’ ­valuation for Naughton. But AVB wants to see the defender, 23, up close and probably in pre-season games first.

Naughton was loaned to Norwich last season and Spurs recently priced Aston Villa out of a move for him.

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