Wigan Athletic boss Paul Jewell says Tottenham doesn't have the money to prise fullback Pascal Chimbonda away from the JJB stadium.The French right-back was plucked from obscurity last July, with the club paying Bastia £500,000 for his services, and he has proven "a star" according to Jewell.
His performances led to Wigan renegotiating his contract in January and removing a similar clause to that of Bullard which could have seen him leave on the cheap.
But after being named in the Professional Footballers' Association team of the year, Spurs head a queue for the 27-year-old which also apparently includes Manchester United and Newcastle.
Wigan, though, have placed a bounty on Chimbonda - understood to be around £10million - a sum unlikely to be paid by any club for a full-back.
"I've heard the rumours and read little bits in the newspapers," said Jewell.
"But we don't want to sell Pascal Chimbonda, and that's the most important thing.
"We obviously didn't want to sell Jimmy Bullard, but he had a clause in his contract, one we took out of Pascal's in January.
"What I will say is that any player who is not happy doing a job at this club is free to go - but it has to be on our terms.
"If Tottenham want to pay the going rate for a player that gets in the PFA team of the year, then we will have to consider that.
"But I can't see them having enough money to buy him."
Although Jewell has previously stated he would let players go if they were unhappy, he knows the club come first.
Jewell added: "If Pascal came to me and said he wanted to leave, then I would be very disappointed.
"We all have our rights to move on somewhere else, but also the club have rights as well.
"We took a chance on him in the summer when no-one knew who he was, gave him his opportunity, and he has taken it superbly. He's been a star for us.
"When you put all those things together and ask 'well, how can you stop him going', I have to protect the club.
"He can't have it both ways. If he wants to leave, then it will have to be on our terms.
"If no-one pays the money - and I find it difficult to believe anyone will pay what we are looking for - then Pascal will stay.
"If he doesn't like that, I'm sorry, but that's the way it goes.
"I'm not stupid. I understand we can't compete with the likes of Tottenham, Manchester United and Newcastle.
"The way we can compete is to look after our club, say he is under contract and until someone gives us the money the chairman wants for him, then he will stay here."
