Spurs join Arsenal in race for Mata

LONDON (AFP) - Harry Redknapp has revealed Tottenham are ready to take on north London rivals Arsenal in the race to sign Valencia winger Juan Mata.

Mata, 23, has already been strongly linked with Arsenal, but Redknapp hopes Spurs can steal a march on the Gunners after admitting chairman Daniel Levy is trying to do a deal for the Spain Under-21 star.

"The chairman has been dealing with it," Redknapp said after Spurs' pre-season friendly win at Brighton on Saturday.

"He is a player we like, obviously, so do Arsenal, so do a few other clubs, but where it's all at I don't know.

"He's a player I went and saw when England played Spain Under-21s and I thought he looked fantastic.

"Whether anything happens I wouldn't be sure, the chairman is the only person who has been dealing with those transfers."

Meanwhile, Redknapp refused to criticse unsettled midfielder Luka Modric after the Croatian missed the Brighton friendly due to illness.

Modric wants to join Chelsea but Spurs are refusing to sell and have rejected two bids from their Premier League rivals.

Redknapp said: "Luka wasn't feeling well. He came in this morning to see the doctor and he had ulcers on the back of his throat.

"He was pretty rough. The doctor rung and said no way he can play. I can't fault his attitude, he's been first class.

"Obviously it's been a difficult period for everybody with him. He's trained well and worked hard. He's a great lad and you couldn't meet a better pro in my opinion."

However, Chelsea may yet make another bid for Modric after Blues chief executive Ron Gourlay revealed he plans to hold talks with manager Andre Villas-Boas after transfer targets this week.

"I don't like talking about players from other clubs, but that's something we'll look at during the week and we'll take it from there," Gourlay told Sky Sports News.

"We really need to sit down with Andre and talk this through. Even though we've been travelling away you can still be active in the marketplace nowadays."