Tottenham Sign Woodgate From Middlesbrough in £7m Deal

Tottenham have signed England defender Jonathan Woodgate from Middlesbrough for a fee in the region of £7m. The clubs had earlier confirmed they had reached agreement for the 28-year-old who joined Boro from Real Madrid in August 2006, initially on loan with the move made permanent in April 2007.

Earlier today there were reports that a mystery third club, believed to be Arsenal, had entered the race for the Middlesbrough defender. But Arsène Wenger denied these reports 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. The deal for Woodgate, who has played 17 times for Boro this season, is expected to better his current £65,000-a-week wage.

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.