Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy has furiously denied comments made by Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez that they are trying to sell England striker Jermain Defoe, possibly in exchange for France international striker Djibril Cisse.

Liverpool have been consistently linked with a move for the England striker, who is unhappy about his lack of first team play with Spurs and with even Spurs manager Martin Jol saying that he "feels sorry" for Defoe's situation.

But Liverpool boss Benitez, speaking in Friday's press conference prior to Liverpool's Premiership encounter with local rivals Everton, said that links with a move from to Tottenham to Liverpool for Defoe were unfounded.

"There are always links with Jermain Defoe. They are desperate for selling Defoe and are trying to sell Defoe." said Benitez

"They always use Cisse in the middle, I don't know why. But It's not our problem.

"We are thinking about our players. I don't need to talk with him [Cisse]. He is our player, he is working hard, they always talk about him when they talk about Defoe.

"Maybe, I say before, they are desperate to sell Defoe and want to do something.

But Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has angrily hit-back at Benitez, accusing him of trying to unsettle the England forward.

"I find the comments made by Rafael Benitez beyond belief," said Levy.

"Not only are they completely untrue, but it is unprecedented any manager should comment in this way about another team's player.

"It could in fact be interpreted as a direct and blatent attempt to unsettle Jermain.

"There is absolutely no basis, let alone truth, in Benitez's claim that we are looking to sell Jermain.

"We have not had a single coversation with Liverpool, or any other club, so I fail to see how he can make this statement," said a furious Levy.

The Tottenham chairman also wanted to dismiss any links with the swap-deal possibility with France international striker Djibril Cisse and also the signing of fellow Les Bleus striker, Manchester United's Louis Saha, saying: "Additionally, for the avoidance of all doubt, we have previously said and I repeat, we have no intention of making an offer for Cisse or Saha."

The Spurs chairman continued: "I resent having to put the record straight when it should never have been put into question.

"I should expect, on reflection, that Mr Benitez withdraws his wholly inappropriate, unprofessional and inaccurate comments. They do him no credit."

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