Tottenham Hotspur have targeted Moussa Dembélé of Fulham to reinforce their midfield after finally sanctioning the £30m sale of Luka Modric to Real Madrid, while they have had a €16m (£13m) offer accepted by Lyon for the goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

Dembélé is hot property, particularly after his eyecatching performance in his team's 3-2 defeat at Manchester United on Saturday, and has come to feature prominently on Tottenham's wishlist. The manager André Villas-Boas's midfield priority has been João Moutinho of Porto, but his €30m price-tag is a deterrent and the Portuguese club are not inclined to accept less.

Tottenham are also pushing for the Shakhtar Donetsk attacking midfielder Willian and they have had an £11m bid rejected for him. The club are conscious they are short of cover for Aaron Lennon on the right flank, while they also continue to explore the possibility of deals for Rennes' holding midfielder Yann M'Vila and the Internacional striker Leandro Damião.

Villas-Boas does not consider M'Vila a potential replacement for Modric, as he is more defensively-minded. "On the possible replacements for Luka, we are looking for a more creative player," Villas-Boas said. Dembélé would appear to fit the bill. Considered an attacking midfielder, he has flourished as one of the two central players in Martin Jol's Fulham formation.

He is known for his ability to drive forward with the ball at his feet and beat players, as well as his eye for a pass. But he can also win possession. Tottenham, though, will encounter resistance from Fulham, who would be loth to sell the 25-year-old unless an offer of at least £15m were to come in. Dembélé's Fulham contract runs until 2013 but the club have the option of a further year.

Tottenham have, however, fared better on the goalkeeping front, as an offer has been accepted by Lyon for Lloris, the France No1. He has been Villas-Boas's goalkeeping target since he arrived at Tottenham. The club offered €11m for him in July, which was rejected, and they had baulked at going much higher. They investigated the possibility of signing Internazionale's Júlio César, who is available at a fraction of Lloris's price.

But they have returned with an acceptable offer and the Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has given them permission to talk to Lloris over personal terms. "I had contact with Daniel Levy [the Tottenham chairman] on Sunday and the position between the two clubs has got closer," Aulas said. "I have told Hugo about the discussions with Tottenham and everything is in his hands. The decision is his."

Modric's move to Madrid has brought the curtain down on one of the summer's most high profile transfer sagas. The Croatia playmaker learned of Madrid's interest before the European Championship, which started on 8 June, and he immediately wanted to join them. But he has endured a long wait, as Levy held out for as close to £40m as possible.

In the end, Levy has accepted rather less, although he suggested he was glad Modric had gone to Madrid and not a domestic rival. Chelsea had tried to sign him last summer only for Levy to reject their offer of £30m plus the Brazilian defender Alex, who Chelsea valued at £10m. Tottenham's valuation of Alex was lower and he has has since left Chelsea for Paris St-Germain.

Modric refused to go on Tottenham's pre-season tour of the US and trained away from the first team group. But the eventual parting was amicable, with Tottenham wishing him well for the future . "There are no hard feelings from my side," Modric said, "and I think it's the same with Tottenham. Everyone thought there was something bad between us but it was nothing bad. I thank everyone at Spurs."

Tottenham have signed a partnership agreement with Real Madrid similar to the London club's tie-ups with Internacional in Brazil, South China FC in Hong Kong, SuperSport United in South Africa and San Jose Earthquakes in the US.

The agreement will permit Tottenham's coaches to visit Madrid to study training techniques, and vice versa. It will also allow the clubs to swap ideas on commercial strategy, and young players might be loaned between them.