Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham Hotspur manager, faces a battle to persuade his chairman to sign David James after Portsmouth conceded that the goalkeeper is available before the transfer window closes today.
The deadline for deals is 5pm and it promises to be a frantic day of buying and selling to judge from the proposed activity at White Hart Lane.
Portsmouth are demanding about £5 million for James after they rejected an initial offer from Tottenham of a swap deal involving Carlo Cudicini, the Italian goalkeeper who moved to the North London club from Chelsea only in January.
The main concern for Daniel Levy, the Tottenham chairman, is James’s age. The England goalkeeper is 39 and Levy is also reluctant to conclude the deal unless he can balance the books by transferring Cudicini or Heurelho Gomes, the club’s first-choice goalkeeper who could be out for two more months with a groin problem.
James has expressed his dissatisfaction with the uncertain situation at Portsmouth. Sulaiman al-Fahim is still in the process of completing his takeover of the club, who have lost their opening four Barclays Premier League matches of the season. James fears that staying at Fratton Park may jeopardise his place in the England squad for the World Cup finals in South Africa next summer.
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In addition to the move for James, Redknapp has also set his sights on Niko Kranjcar, the Portsmouth and Croatia midfield player. Redknapp’s interest is partly in response to the injury to Luka Modric, who fractured his right fibula during the 2-1 victory over Birmingham City on Saturday and is expected to be out for up to six weeks. Tottenham and Portsmouth were understood to be close to a deal last night.
If both transfers go through, it will bring to four the number of players that Redknapp has signed from his former club since his arrival 11 months ago, after Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch.
Tottenham are also in talks to sell David Bentley, the midfield player, to Manchester City in a deal believed to be worth about £10 million. Bentley has fallen out of favour at Tottenham since joining for £16 million last summer from Blackburn Rovers, where he played under Mark Hughes, now the City manager.
Bentley pleaded guilty to a drink-driving charge last week and was banned from driving for a year, with Tottenham adding to his punishment by imposing a fine of two weeks’ wages.
Possibly coming in the other direction is Martin Petrov, City’s Bulgaria winger. He was given permission to miss training yesterday before his country’s World Cup qualifying matches against Montenegro and Italy and is understood to have been in London to discuss a loan deal with Tottenham.
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Gross spending during the summer window moved close to £400 million last night — compared with £500 million last year — after Sunderland kicked off the eleventh-hour frenzy by agreeing a deal to sign Michael Turner, the Hull City defender, for a fee that could rise to £12 million.
So far, total net spending (money spent less money recouped) is about £55 million, which is less than half of the comparable figure last summer. Manchester City’s net spending of about £106 million is more than six times that of Chelsea, who are the second-highest net spenders.
Clubs appear to have been forced into being more prudent because of the state of the global economy, the weakness of the pound and concern among foreign players about the top-rate tax band of 50 per cent, which comes into effect next April.
The valuations and wages of the few top players available have become inflated, with even Manchester United, who have made a profit of about £60 million on sales, and Chelsea refusing to play ball. They and Liverpool are believed to have concluded all transfer business until January.
Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, is expected to launch a final bid to try to sign Marouane Chamakh, the Bordeaux forward, and Blaise Matuidi, the Saint-?tienne midfield player.