Spurs Bullish Over £12m Bentley Bid

Tottenham Hotspur are confident a deal worth around £12m will eventually secure David Bentley from Blackburn Rovers despite the Lancashire club's desire to retain the England winger. The midfielder has reiterated his desire to leave Ewood Park in talks with the new Rovers manager, Paul Ince, and has set his sights on a return to London.

Aaron Lennon could yet be included in any deal that is struck as Juande Ramos attempts to trim his current playing squad. Spurs hope to add Bentley to the potential signing of the Sevilla winger Diego Capel and have expressed an interest in the Espanyol striker Luis Garcia with the futures of Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov at White Hart Lane still in some doubt.

Ramos would ideally like to retain both strikers but has put a number of other first-team players up for sale with Kevin-Prince Boateng expected to move to Stuttgart, initially on loan, and Younes Kaboul to join Portsmouth. Darren Bent has attracted interest from Sunderland, Paul Robinson is one goalkeeper under consideration by Aston Villa while Young-Pyo Lee will return to PSV Eindhoven as part of the deal that will eventually see the Dutch club's Brazilian goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes move to London. The club will also listen to offers for Pascal Chimbonda, Paul Stalteri and Anthony Gardner.