Tottenham have offered close to £16million for Moussa Sissoko, but Newcastle are looking for a substantially higher fee for the French attacker.
Standard Sport revealed yesterday that Sissoko had become a late transfer-window target for Tottenham and Spurs attempted to accelerate the deal with an initial offer of £15.75million.
If Sissoko does arrive, he could be one of three players to do so on deadline day, with attacker Georges-Kevin Nkoudou and goalkeeper Pau Lopez also due to complete moves to White Hart Lane.
Sissoko, 27, has been given permission to leave the France national squad so he would be in place to undertake a medical and conclude contract talks should the clubs agree a fee.
Everton, Crystal Palace and West Brom have shown interest in Sissoko, who would nonetheless prefer to join a club involved in the Champions League. Newcastle are still holding out for about £30m, after Real Madrid and Juventus also showed an interest earlier in the summer.
Tottenham are willing to let midfielder Tom Carroll leave and it was suggested that the 24-year-old could be included in a second offer for Sissoko.
Yet Newcastle have set Sissoko’s price at £35m all summer, which has been deemed too high by the many clubs who admire him. It is likely, therefore, that they would have to drop that fee considerably to do business.
At the start of the summer, Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino requested a striker, a defensive midfielder and a pacy attacker.
Vincent Janssen joined to improve the forward line while Victor Wanyama arrived to help out in the middle. At this stage, Nkoudou is the man earmarked for the wide attacking role.
Nkoudou was ready to join Tottenham from Marseille more than a month ago but the move was delayed after a change of ownership at the French club.
However, the 21-year-old is thought to have been training with Spurs and the £9million transfer ought to go through today, possibly with Clinton Njie moving in the opposite direction on loan.
Espanyol ‘keeper Pau Lopez was also expected to arrive, on a season-long loan with an £6million option to buy at the end of the season.
