Deal doomed by third party

Tottenham were close to sealing a deal for top target Joao Moutinho, only to see it scuppered by third party ownership.

Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas was desperate to get his top target on board before the deadline, as he sees the Porto ace as the natural replacement for Luka Modric, who joined Real Madrid. Tottenham had agreed a club record £20m deal with Porto for the signing and had submitted the required agreed deal document, an emergency procedure for late transfers, to the Premier League before the 11pm cut-off. A third party owns 15% of Moutinho's economic rights and that is prohibited by the Premier League, so Porto had to buy that out before a deal could be done and it is reported that they went back on a previously held agreement, meaning the deal collapsed.