Porto boss Vitor Pereira today admitted Tottenham want Joao Moutinho but insisted the White Hart Lane club will have to pay £31.5million to land the midfielder.

New Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas wants to build his Tottenham side around the Portugal international and will fund the transfer with the sale of Luka Modric.

The fee would be nearly double Spurs’ transfer record of £16.5m for Modric in 2008 and the Croat could hold the key to the Moutinho deal going through.

Spurs would fund the move with the money which comes in for Modric if he completes his likely switch to Real Madrid.

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy would prefer not to pay more than £25m for Moutinho, 25, who has a £31.5m release clause in his contract.

Porto, who Villas-Boas steered to Europa League glory the season before last, need to sell some stars this summer to improve their finances and Pereira fears it is only a matter of time before Moutinho moves to White Hart Lane.

He said: “I have not spoken with Villas-Boas but it is natural that he likes Moutinho. I like him, too.

“Clubs cannot just not sell. We really want him to stay but this is football and there are release clauses.

“The only thing we can do is achieve results with what we have got.”

Standard Sport revealed Spurs’ interest in the player two weeks ago but they are unlikely to sign him before Modric’s likely switch to Madrid is complete. The Croatia international has agreed terms with the Spanish club but the teams have not settled on a fee.

Madrid had an offer of £28m turned down last week but have reportedly upped their bid to £40m.

They face stiff competition from Paris St-Germain, who have made a £35m offer with a three-year contract and more than £90,000-a-week wages.

But the player has set his sights on moving to the Bernabeu and Jose Mourinho expects to seal the transfer before the 26-year-old returns to training at Spurs next week.

An announcement regarding Ledley King’s future is also close, with Villas-Boas hinting the injury-plagued defender is set to retire.

The manager said: “I spoke to him on Tuesday and there are still discussions regarding what is the best step. It is very unfair for me to extend myself because Ledley has a tremendous past as a footballer and it is up to him to share with you what his decision is.”

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