Tottenham head coach Juande Ramos has warned potential bidders for Dimitar Berbatov that they would have to break the British transfer record to sign the striker.
Ramos is confident Berbatov will remain at Spurs beyond the January transfer window despite the 26-year-old's agent suggesting he would want to leave White Hart Lane if the right offer was made. Manchester United and Chelsea have been linked with a move for the Bulgaria international, who has scored 11 times this season, but Ramos does not feel any club will match Spurs' valuation.
Ramos believes his player should command a bigger fee than the cost of bringing Andriy Shevchenko to Stamford Bridge, which is valued around the €40 million mark.
"I think a club would have to break the British transfer record to sign Berbatov," said Ramos. "At this moment Berbatov's value is more than this price. At least that is what we think. But everyone has a price. The intention of Tottenham is not to sell the player.
"It's not a question for me if a club can pay this. The other clubs will know what they need for their squads. But it's normal that for a player of this level they would have to pay such an amount because there are very few players of his class." He added: "Unless something strange happens - and I think it will not happen - there's not going to be a club that will pay the price that Tottenham could accept."
The decision on whether Berbatov would be allowed to go is not down to Ramos, but the Spaniard's valuation of his striker stems from rating him as the finest player not currently involved in the Champions League.
"The truth is that I understand perfectly why he would cost so much money because there are few players like Berbatov," he said. "And those who do exist play for great teams who play in the Champions League. And those great teams will not sell their players. He's the only great player who has not played in the Champions League that they could sign."
A bid of more than €40 million would represent a healthy profit on the €15 million Spurs paid Bayer Leverkusen at the start of last season, and it would also cancel out the bulk of the summer spending. But Ramos is desperate to keep Berbatov to guide Spurs towards European qualification - and also to prove they are not a selling club.
"That is a logical deduction," he said. "So our intention is not to sell Berbatov and we don't want to. What's more we want to sign good players. I fully expect that at the end of January I will have all my four strikers. I am convinced they will continue with us because we want them to."
Despite his intentions, Ramos accepts the final decision will be made by chairman Daniel Levy. Levy has insisted this week that the club will only be involved in "essential" deals.
"From the first moment the decision has been out of my hands," head coach Ramos added. "The final decision rests with the club. I don't want to sell Berbatov. I want the best players. But the club have to make a decision."
Ramos has identified the players he wants to bring to Spurs this month and may have to sell to raise cash, with Wayne Routledge and Hossam Ghaly expected to leave. Ledley King is fit after an inflammation to the knee last week led to him being rested against Aston Villa on New Year's Day.
Meanwhile Rangers and Spurs are in talks over the transfer of Alan Hutton to the English Premier League club.
It's thought a fee of about €11 million could secure the sale of the Scottish international right-back.