Tottenham are close to agreeing a deal with Fulham for Moussa Dembélé, with the Premier League club expected to pay an initial £5m to secure the teenage striker.

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Mauricio Pochettino has been searching for backup to Harry Kane in the January transfer window and has funds available after Spurs sold Andros Townsend to Newcastle this week for £12m.

The Tottenham manager played a major role in chairman Daniel Levy’s decision to reach a compromise over Townsend having initially demanded £14m for the England international and now has requested that some of those funds are spent on Dembélé, a 19-year-old from France who has been at the club since joining from Paris Saint-Germain in 2012.

Fulham, who are 19th in the Championship and just four points above the relegation zone, were reluctant to allow a player who has scored 11 goals in all competitions this season to leave. However, with Dembélé’s contract due to expire in the summer despite the club’s attempts to tie him down to a new deal, they are now prepared to accept an initial fee of £5m with significant add-ons.

That deal would see Dembélé move to White Hart Lane immediately despite Fulham’s attempt to loan him back until the end of the season in a similar arrangement to the one they negotiated last February with MK Dons for Dele Alli. Monaco have also been linked with an approach for him but it is understood that the player has no desire to return to his homeland at this stage of his career.

Fulham have also turned down a £9m bid from Middlesbrough for Ross McCormack and were reported to have rejected a transfer request from the Scotland international on Thursday. But with Dembélé now likely to move, the club are determined to hang on to a player who has scored 15 times in the Championship this season.