Spurs Confident of Sealing Woodgate Deal

Tottenham are confident of completing an £8m deal for Jonathan Woodgate later today despite reports that a mystery third club have had a bid accepted for the Middlesbrough defender.

Speculation that the club in question is Arsenal has been denied by Arsène Wenger, who has written in his program notes ahead of tomorrow's Premier League game against Newcastle: "I do not know where that story came from. There is no truth in it at all. We have never been in touch with Middlesbrough about Jonathan Woodgate."

Woodgate, who missed Middlesbrough's FA Cup victory at Mansfield Town supposedly with a calf strain, traveled to London on Saturday to talk terms with Spurs after turning down the chance to rejoin Newcastle United, who were also given permission to speak to the defender. Spurs remain optimistic that a deal for Woodgate, which will better his current £65,000-a-week wage, will go through - despite the Boro chief executive Keith Lamb revealing this morning that a third club had entered the fray.

"We've agreed a fee with Tottenham and as far as I'm aware he went down at the weekend to have a medical and we're just waiting to see," said Lamb. "We agreed a fee with Tottenham, Newcastle and another club but we left it up to Jonathan, he could stay or go."

Woodgate, who turned 28 last week, has had a stop-start-stop career marred by injury and ill-fortune. He took 561 days to return from a torn thigh muscle first suffered while at Newcastle United in 2004 and 13 months to make his Real Madrid debut, after joining them for £13.4m. After playing just 14 times in three seasons at the Bernabéu, he joined Boro on loan at the start of the 2006 season but has only played 52 matches for the club.

"We've got an abundance of center-backs and with the emergence of David Wheater and with Robert Huth back and Emanuel Pogatetz, Gareth felt he could let one of them go," Lamb told Talksport.

However, it does looks like Alan Hutton, another long-term Spurs target, will spurn the opportunity to move to White Hart Lane. The Rangers defender flew to London at the weekend for talks with Spurs officials, but has told friends that, despite Rangers' efforts to sell him for £8m, he would prefer to stay at Ibrox.