Tottenham manager Glenn Hoddle is aiming to sign England Under-21 striker Bobby Zamora by the weekend after agreeing a fee of around £2million with hard-up Second Division club Brighton.
Brighton's Zamora: Wanted man (MikeHewitt/GettyImages)
Hoddle, who splashed out £6.25million for Portuguese striker Helder Postiga last month, has already opened talks on personal terms with the player whom he tracked closely all last season.
A Tottenham statement read: 'The club have agreed a fee with Brighton for striker Bobby Zamora and are currently discussing personal terms with the player.'
Although Brighton were relegated from the Nationwide League First Division at the end of last season, following two successive promotions, Zamora still managed to take his goal tally to over 30 in two campaigns.
He has bagged 76 in just 123 League appearances and Brighton manager Steve Coppell has admitted his fear of losing him, although he said: 'If he had to be sold I would rather he was sold quickly than just a week before the start of the season.'
Brighton chairman Dick Knight turned down an initial Spurs offer for Zamora last month when the Premiership club suggested a deal involving a low basic payment plus staged amounts up to around £4million, depending on what success they had with Zamora in the side.
A big sticking point for Brighton has always been the fact that 30% of any fee they receive for their star striker must be paid to Bristol Rovers under an agreement made when Zamora, 22, moved from the West Country club to the Seagulls three years ago for just £175,000.
Neither Spurs nor Brighton will reveal the fee they have now agreed but it is believed to be around £3million.
And Hoddle is making room financially for the 6ft 1in striker by continuing his major clear-out at White Hart Lane.
That could accelerate over the next 48 hours - with four players who cost the club more than £20million being removed from the wage bill in exchange for small fees.
Former England midfielder Darren Anderton looks set to revive his free transfer switch to newly-promoted Portsmouth - where former Spurs team-mates Teddy Sheringham and Tim Sherwood are already signed up.
Full-back Ben Thatcher has agreed a cut-price switch to Leicester City while Steffen Iversen is in negotiations with newly-promoted Wolves, who are also claimed to be interested in offering a loan deal to Spurs' record signing Sergei Rebrov.
Ukraine striker Rebrov cost £11million when signed from Dynamo Kiev three years ago, but never fulfilled his talent in the Premiership under former Spurs boss George Graham and was soon cast aside by Hoddle when he took over as manager.
The player was loaned to Fenerbahce in January but the Turkish club have now released him and his agent Sandor Varga said: 'There is interest in Sergei from Wolves which he would be pleased to examine as an option.'
Wolves' discussions with Norway striker Iversen are believed to be at an early stage but Tottenham are almost certain to take a loss on a player who cost them £2.6million when signed by Gerry Francis in December 1996 but has been severely restricted by various injuries, most notably back and knee problems.
Iversen, 26, managed only nine starts last term, and that was one less than defender Thatcher, who cost £5million from Wimbledon three years ago but complained last season that he had been frozen out by Hoddle.
The fee has yet to be revealed but Thatcher will be Leicester's eighth signing since they won promotion, and manager Micky Adams said: 'I have been on his trail for some time and I'm delighted everything has now been agreed.
'He is tenacious defender with good pace and good Premiership experience. He will have a medical and hopefully everything will be done in time for him to travel with us to Finland next week.'
Anderton, at least, has given Spurs plenty of service - despite his own well-publicised injury problems - during 11 years since his £2million move from Portsmouth.
But Tottenham could end up paying off the remainder of his current contract - which has a year to run - under the terms of a proposed deal for his return to the south coast club.
The move broke down earlier this week when Anderton, 31, stayed in La Manga, Spain with the Spurs squad for pre-season training instead of making contact with Pompey chairman Milan Mandaric who had reportedly offered him a £20,000-a-week three-year contract.
Mandaric immediately called the deal off after Anderton failed to make the deadline but Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp remained hopeful of reviving it and Hoddle said today: 'It could be still on - even done and dusted by tonight, but it is a complicated situation.'
Anderton, however, refused to discuss the issue after playing in the first half of a Spurs friendly at Stevenage Borough last night and was training with Spurs again today.
Spurs have already admitted that they are considering raising funds through a new shares-issue thought to be worth around £15 million, but their great pre-season sale is also clearly designed to free money from the wage bill for Hoddle to divert to new signings like £6.2 million former FC Porto marksman Postiga, and now Zamora.
Hoddle, having also given free transfers to midfielder Steffen Freund and defender Alton Thelwell, is said to be weighing up possible bids for West Ham's Freddie Kanoute and Trevor Sinclair.
Good luck to him but as DK as always said we do not need to sell him, then surely all net proceeds (after the gasheads get their bit) should go straight to SC.
Thanks Bob, you are already a Legend. I won't ever forget the pleasure I have had watching you score all those goals, that one against Ipswich was a peach!!!
Best of luck at Tottenham, and I will look on in pride when you eventually pull the shirt on for the England senior team, you deserve it.
Now where in Falmer shall we erect that statue.....
I,ve just heard now as just home from work gutted!!!!!! mainly cos I,m worried what Spurs will do for him. It will be announced tomorrow in a press conference at 1400. Good Luck to him and I hope he does well apparently he supported Spurs as a boy!!!
As a lifelong Spurs fan and recent admirer of the Albion since moving to Brighton 6 years ago, I'm half excited half gutted. All I can say is Bobby was and will hopefully continue to be the class player we all know he is. I'll still be cheering on the Seagulls regardless!
Good luck to BZ but why the hell could this not have happened 2/3 weeks ago. I now reckon we've missed out on good players coz we had no bloody money - could have offered Robinson more etc. etc.
We now need 2 top class strikers.
Iffy Onoura and The Beach Boy?? I think not.
Knew this was going to happen at some stage but feel really pissed off right now.
I spoke to someone at the club earlier and they said that the deal was not done, and that Spurs were being arses in announcing this now. However, they didn't deny that a deal is under discussion.
If we get 1.5m after Rovers get their share, then I reckon we've done okay. We can buy a centre-back, winger & 2 strikers with that. Personally I hope we get Hunt from Brentford, Luke Beckett, that scouser at Shrewsbury & Inga. We've still got a good squad, & with a few additions we'll do well