Villas-Boas respects Spurs' stance

Soccer:Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas says the Blues will not wait forever in their pursuit of Tottenham midfielder Luka Modric and have other players in the pipeline. The Croatia international has been the subject of fevered speculation this summer linking him with a move away from north London.

Such talk was fuelled further by the player himself after Modric admitted he would like to leave White Hart Lane for pastures new, preferably Stamford Bridge.

Villas-Boas would not shed any light on the Modric situation after overseeing a 1-0 pre-season friendly defeat of Portsmouth on Saturday, but admitted the club need a creative midfielder.

"I would prefer not to comment," he said when asked about links with Modric and West Ham midfielder Scott Parker. "You know what the situation is, it is public. You can understand the position that the club has taken.

"At the moment we are scanning the market for everything and not just those two players. [Modric plays in] one of the positions we are looking to strengthen. But here you saw we adapted Yossi's (Benayoun) position in the middle and also against Wycombe he was marvellous in the position.

"It is just a question of finding the solution. If it happens it happens, if it doesn't happen it doesn't happen."

When asked whether a deal for Modric was just a matter of time, he retorted: "No, it does not depend on us. Spurs have a right to defend their player and property. We just have to wait.

"We respect whatever position Tottenham takes and the prices we are talking about is an incredible amount of money."

As well as a creative midfielder, Villas-Boas admitted that he would like to add a defensive midfielder to the mix after Michael Essien's injury.

The Ghana international has been ruled out for six months with a knee injury, which Villas-Boas admits came as a big blow to everybody a the club.

"Michael is a fantastic person and a fantastic individual," he said. "He was one of the people I kept in contact with for a long time after I left and I always considered him a friend and it was a pity for him to get another injury like this.

"I think it is a big blow because of what he represents and what he represents as a person. Six months is a lot of time and for sure bearing in mind this was already a sector we were looking to strengthen we might need to move in the market."