Christian Eriksen is stalling on signing a new contract with Tottenham following a fresh offer from the club last month.

Eriksen, who scored for the fourth time in six games in last night’s 3-0 win at Cardiff, is out of contract in 18 months and Spurs would be forced to listen to offers for the 26-year-old in the summer if the situation remains unchanged. Both Real Madrid and Barcelona admire the playmaker.

Spurs are still hopeful of agreeing a new long-term contract and talks continue, but there is growing concern that he is yet to sign, despite an offer being on the table.

Eriksen is believed to earn £75,000 a week on the four-year contract he signed in September 2016 and any new deal would, at least, bring him in line with Dele Alli, who agreed a £150,000-a-week deal in October. Real or Barca could offer the Denmark international significantly more, but he is said to be happy with life in London.

Asked about Eriksen's situation after yesterday's win in south Wales, Mauricio Pochettino said: "The phrase is no news is good news but, in this case, I don't know [if that's true]."

Spurs held talks with Borussia Dortmund over Christian Pulisic but the USA winger agreed a £58m move to Chelsea this morning.

Meanwhile, Spurs are keen to offload Mousa Dembele in the January sales rather than risk losing the mercurial midfielder for nothing next summer.

Dembele, who is out of contract at the end of the season, was targeted by Chinese Super League clubs last summer and Spurs are hoping for renewed interest from the Far East this month.

Beijing Sinobo Guoan would like to sign the 31-year-old but they already have four overseas players in their squad — the maximum permitted.

Dembele also has admirers in Italy, including Inter Milan, but they were put off by a £20million asking price in the summer and may prefer to discuss a free transfer with the player, rather than negotiate with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy this month.

After making more than 200 appearances for Spurs, Dembele no longer feels up to the physical demands of the Premier League and he is aware he could more than double his reported £80,000-a-week salary with a move to China or MLS in the US.

Spurs are also hoping to sell Vincent Janssen, Georges-Kevin Nkoudou, Victor Wanyama, Fernando Llorente and Michel Vorm.