Jermain Defoe's future at Tottenham Hotspur remains uncertain as the club pushes to sign the long-term target Leandro Damião of Internacional, despite having completed the permanent transfer of Emmanuel Adebayor for £5.5m from Manchester City.

QPR, who have agreed a £9m deal with Tottenham for the defender Michael Dawson, are interested in taking Defoe, who has previously played in London for Charlton Athletic and West Ham United.

André Villas-Boas has said that he wants three strikers this season to compete for the one starting berth in his 4-3-3 formation, with the third being the 19-year-old Harry Kane.

The manager's rationale is that it can be problematic to have too many established players fighting for a single place, with the third choice, inevitably, left to feel frustrated at his lack of sufficient minutes.

Defoe does not appear to be a natural fit for the lone striker role in a 4-3-3 and he and his agent have already had talks with Villas-Boas this summer to discuss the situation.

Villas-Boas has said the right things in public about the England international, who contributed 17 goals for Tottenham last season and scored in their opening day defeat at Newcastle United on Saturday, but if the club can finalise the pursuit of Damião, the Brazil No9, then Defoe might find himself surplus to requirement.

Villas-Boas has tracked Damião throughout the summer and Tottenham have sent a representative to Porto Alegre in an attempt to secure the player's €20m signing. Damião impressed for Brazil during the Olympic Games in London. Tottenham are also interested in the Shakhtar Donetsk attacking midfielder Willian.

Villas-Boas's squad rebuild is taking shape, with Tom Huddlestone loaned to Stoke City for the season and Sébastien Bassong having joined Norwich City on a permanent basis.

The manager remains open to offers for Heurelho Gomes, David Bentley, Jermaine Jenas, Giovani dos Santos and Rafael van der Vaart while Luka Modric's proposed transfer to Real Madrid continues to drag.

Dawson has been moved on as Villas-Boas considers him to lack mobility and to be behind Younes Kaboul, William Gallas, Jan Vertonghen and Steven Caulker in the central defensive pecking order.

He used Dawson as the club captain during pre-season, following Ledley King's retirement, as he was the "reference" point from last season, when he was the vice-captain, but Villas-Boas said last Thursday that he would not announce his captain for the season until the transfer window had neared its end and he had "a better idea of the players that stay with us and come in". Dawson's departure, as such, had been advertised.