Mousa Dembele looks to have played his last game for Tottenham as the Belgian midfielder closes in on a transfer to China.

Dembele is in talks with Beijing Guoan about an £11million move, which could be completed in the next few days.

The 31-year-old has returned to training after suffering ankle ligament damage at Wolves in November but he is not in the squad for tonight's EFL Cup semi-final first leg against Chelsea at Wembley.

Dembele, who is out of contract in the summer when he would be free to leave Spurs for nothing, stands to substantially increase his £80,000-a-week wages in the Chinese Super League. The former Fulham player is also attracted by the slower-pace of football in the Far East after becoming frustrated by the amount of injuries he has suffered in the past two years in England.

The Chinese transfer window does not close until February 28 but Spurs are not keen to delay Dembele's departure, as the club aims to trim a squad which is bloated with overseas players.

They also hope to offload Vincent Janssen, who played 45 minutes for the U-23s last night, Georges-Kevin Nkoudou, Fernando Llorente and Michel Vorm before the end of the month, while the club will consider offers for Victor Wanyama if they can sign another midfielder.

Chairman Daniel Levy has made funds available this month and Mauricio Pochettino has been told his spending is not dependent on selling players first. However, the Spurs manager prefers to work with a small squad and is aware of how difficult it will be to sign players of sufficient quality mid-season. Pochettino wants a new holding midfielder and a centre-half, with homegrown players the club's priority.

"I know that is very difficult for the club to add the quality to improve us," Pochettino said yesterday. "It's not an easy job. Of course that is why I don't expect too much to sign players now. Of course we are working trying to identify players with the possibility to join us but I know very well that it's going to be difficult."

On the eve of tonight's derby, Pochettino urged Spurs to "operate in a different way" in order to win the biggest honours but the club has no plans to change strategy while it remains saddled with £637m of debt and waits to open a new £1bn stadium.

Spurs will therefore continue to target young players or those who have fallen out of favour elsewhere, and they will not adjust their strict wage structure.

However, Christian Eriksen's ongoing reluctance to sign a new contract is unrelated to finances. The Dane is attracted by the prospect of a new challenge, with Real Madrid said to be interested, but he has 18 months remaining on his current deal – leaving his future likely to be resolved in the summer.