Middlesbrough boss Chris Wilder is ready to keep Djed Spence should a move to Tottenham fail to materialise.
Spurs boss Antonio Conte has made right-back a priority position and Spence a key target but a fee is yet to be agreed with Boro despite weeks of negotiations.
It had been hoped that Spence, who wants to join Spurs, would be with the squad on their pre-season tour of South Korea, but the plane left on Saturday evening with both clubs still apart on valuation.
Wilder will now take his squad to Portugal on a pre-season tour but it remains unclear if Spence will be among the travelling party.
"I've got to say, I’ve taken myself away from it," he told Teesside Live. "It's not my job now, it's gone beyond me and it's not up to me to do the negotiating and agree a deal.
"That's with the club and the owner and the chief executive.
"We all understand the position and as I've said before, if it doesn't go through, then he's still under contract and he's our player."
