Tottenham manager Juande Ramos is said to have lost patience with a gaggle of his underachieving players and is ready to show them the White Hart Lane door during the transfer window - and has a Brazil international striker in his sights.

The potentially most high-profile casualties are goalkeeper Paul Robinson - who committed an error against Reading in the FA Cup last weekend to compound his 2007 woes with England - and as reported previously in Transfer Talk, Jermain Defoe.

The Spaniard is eyeing Bolton's Jussi Jaaskelainen, Argentina and Getafe man Oscar Ustari or Valencia's Timo Hildebrand for the goalkeeping spot in his new-look Spurs eleven.

If he gets his way and ships out 'wantastay' Defoe along with Pascal Chimbonda, Lee Young-Pyo, Anthony Gardner, Paul Stalteri, Hossam Ghaly - in talks with Derby - and Wayne Routledge, he will move for Lyon 'star' Fred, who has been moping around the Stade Gerland for months now.

Fred's agent and brother Rodrigo Melo has jetted into London for talks with Spurs and West Ham, if the papers are to be believed. And as he's a striker, Manchester City have also been linked with a move.

Middlesbrough are thought to be preparing a straight-swap proposition with Tottingham for Defoe, offering Stewart Downing - or failing that a cash-plus-Adam Johnson move.

Still with Spurs: the £9 million move for Rangers' Alan Hutton is now deceased as Gers actually want more - and the north Londoners will not pay over the odds.

If the Hammers fail to persuade Fred that his future lies in east London, Alan Curbishley may console himself with a cut-price El Hadji Diouf or David Nugent in the sales. However his club are unwilling to join in the New Year spirit, demanding a preposterous £5m from Reading for Bobby Zamora, with full-back target Nicky Shorey only worth £1m of that in any swap.

The Royals' director of football Nicky Hammond has told Shorey he will be given an improved deal if he stays, honouring a promise made in the summer, while Zamora is also wanted by Fulham.

Aston Villa and Man City have enquired about the availability of Newcastle's jet-heeled striker Obafemi Martins, who has a £13m release clause in his Toon deal that he wants to be scrapped to facilitate a move. Sam Allardyce has pressing problems in defence though that he seeks to rectify with a £2.5m bid for Guimaraes's Brazilian defender Pedro Geromel .

Emre may be allowed to leave St James' Park for Bayern Munich, Monaco or Galatasaray.

Another striker linked closely with Man City today is Marseille's Mamadou Niang, as well as l'OM playmaker Samir Nasri.

Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp wants to tie up a loan for Boro captain George Boateng, who is unsettled in the north-east, while Gareth Southgate could sign another Turk, national hero Hakan Sukur - formerly at Blackburn - to bring the best out of Tuncay.

Speaking of Rovers - and Turkey for that matter - Mark Hughes is set to snaffle Hasan Sas from Galatasaray for £1m, out of contract in the summer. Meanwhile flop Maceo Rigters could be on his way out after making only one league appearance this season, with a loan move on the cards.

Birmingham are 'in' for about 12 front-men. The more palatable of these are a £2.5m bid for Everton's James McFadden, which has been rejected, another £2.5m for Man City's Greece international Georgios Samaras and Rangers goal-getter Kris Boyd, this time for £3m.

Brum have had a bid for Hibs left-back David Murphy turned down - the SPL club want £2m for him, not £1m. Liverpool target Martin Skrtel has apparently passed a medical after a £6.5m bid was agreed with Zenit St Petersburg.

Gary Megson raised a laugh on the eurosport.yahoo.com desk this morning with his hope that Nic Anelka will stay at Bolton to fire them to, erm, Premier League safety - and marginally less glamorous success in the UEFA Cup.

Wigan are looking at Carlos Tenorio, the Ecuador striker that scored twice in the 2006 World Cup and who now features for Qatari outfit Al-Sadd, while Arsenal are pricing Lassana Diarra out of an exit to a variety of clubs - asking for £6m.

Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport