Fulham manager Chris Coleman has admitted that Tottenham Hotspur could have signed winger Luis Boa Morte during the off season if they tabled a £5 million for the player.

Coleman said: “Boa was about £5 million away from joining Tottenham in the summer. What they offered was nowhere near what we valued him at,”

“We had no chance of replacing him for the fee they offered and the longer all the talk went on the price went up.

“Boa is linked to a move away from the club every time there is a transfer window. People are saying he is going to Tottenham or he is going to Newcastle.

“He came back from the World Cup where he did not have a lot of rest, then there was all the hoo-ha about whether he was leaving or not in the August window.

“That made things hard for him. He has been chipping away and he will get there sooner rather than later.”