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"I spoke to his agent two days ago and the conversations have been extremely productive, the player is a player I have immense confidence in," said Villas-Boas of Defoe, who scored in Spurs' opening-day defeat at Newcastle last Saturday.

"I appreciate his qualities so I am hoping he will continue to be a Tottenham player in the future."

Spurs have been linked with moves for both Internacional striker Leandro Damiao and Shakhtar Donetsk forward Willian, but neither is likely to arrive before the August 31 deadline, said Villas-Boas.

"Leandro is a fantastic player that I know of," said Villas-Boas of the Brazilian. "I went to see him in Brazil when I was doing nothing [during the summer]!

"He is obviously a good, good player but he is not on our prospect at the moment, because I think we are closed on what we are trying to do with the strike situation."

Asked about a reported offer being put in for Willian, Villas-Boas added: "No. He is a player I was interested in last year, an extremely talented player. I wouldn't want to go very deep because I feel it would be disrespectful for Shakhtar, which is a club I have a good relationship with.

"In that sense the only thing I can tell you is that last year when I was at Chelsea I was interested in the player and I appreciate his qualities."

Villas-Boas also commented on the latest news with regards to Luka Modric's protracted move to Real Madrid.

"The situation is in the chairman's hands," he said. "The chairman has told me that the talks are ongoing, they are making some progress but the situation can be solved in the next couple of days.

"At the moment, as I told you before, he continues to train apart and it will be like that until the end of the transfer window, I guess."

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