Tottenham could sell Luka Modric if the club's valuation of him is met, assistant manager Kevin Bond admitted on Monday.
Chelsea are weighing up whether to make a third bid for Spurs playmaker Modric, having already seen two offers rejected this summer.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has insisted the 25-year-old is not for sale "at any price" but that was contradicted on Monday morning by Bond, who told talkSPORT: "We desperately don't want to lose him, but everyone has a price."
He added: "If somebody came along and the money turns your head and he did go - although the chairman is adamant he doesn't want to sell him - then we'd have to get on with it."
That price is likely to be well in excess of the reported £22million and £27million reportedly offered by Chelsea in recent weeks. Spurs boss Harry Redknapp branded the Blues' first bid as "ridiculous" and also gave short shrift to the second.
Modric still has five years remaining on the long-term contract he signed last summer. However, the Croatia star wants to leave, reportedly handing in a transfer request after accusing Levy of reneging on a gentleman's agreement to sell him this summer if a club like Chelsea made a bid.
Bond added: "Transfers are part and parcel of the game but you don't want to lose your best players and he certainly is one of our best players."
Bond said "Harry would have to deal elsewhere in market" if Modric was sold but Redknapp himself has admitted Tottenham would struggle to compete for top players because they could not match the salaries on offer at the likes of Manchester City.
"Imagine what their wages will be," he told several newspapers. "It's incredible. They are all on 100 grand a week-plus. Wages have gone crazy. It's gone beyond belief and made it really hard to compete for top players. If you want to be a top-four side, it's difficult because we can't pay those kind of wages.
"Our chairman Daniel Levy runs the club well, we get 36,000 fans, you're not going to put the club in hock. How do you compete with the Man Citys of this world?"
Source: PA
