Chelsea have not given up on prising Luka Modric away from Tottenham.
The Guardian says Chelsea still aspire to securing Modric before next week's deadline despite Spurs' position appearing increasingly entrenched on a player who has five years to run on his contract at White Hart Lane.
Harry Redknapp suggested on Wednesday night that he would ideally like to play the Croatia international for "an hour" in Thursday evening's Europa League play-off second leg against Hearts, though the 25-year-old did not train with his team-mates at Chigwell on Wednesday and is still apparently troubled by a tight hamstring.
Regardless, the Spurs chairman, Daniel Levy, remains adamant that a sale will not be countenanced and, if the player misses Sunday's visit of Manchester City, he will not be released for Croatia's Euro 2012 qualifiers against Malta and Israel.
