Londoners have given up hope of landing Madrid full back.
Tottenham Hotspur head coach Andre Villas-Boas has decided to swoop for in-demand Everton defender Leighton Baines at the end of the season as opposed to previous first-choice target Fabio Coentrao of Real Madrid, says the Sunday Mirror.
The North London club are known to be keen to bring a new high-quality experienced left back to White Hart Lane this summer after deciding that current left-sided full-back Benoit Assou-Ekotto is not up to the required standards of a club competing to be regularly in the top four of the Premier League.
However, instead of following up his previous interest in Madrid’s coveted Portugal international Coentrao, Villas-Boas has decided that at £30 million the defender is too expensive for Spurs, and so has instead switched his attentions towards the Everton player.
Baines, 28, has been a model of consistency since arriving at Goodison Park from Wigan Athletic for just an initial £5m six years ago, in which time the player has won 15 England caps.
And, with a contract on Merseyside until May 2015, Baines is expected to cost Spurs £15m when the transfer window reopens on June 1st.
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