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Andre Villas-Boas has the budget and desire to sign a top striker in January with AC Milan’s Stephan El Shaarawy an ambitious target for the Tottenham boss, writes Dave Kidd of the Sunday People .

Spurs almost broke even on their summer transfer business, with their seven major signings being offset by the sales of Gareth Bale, Steve Caulker, Scott Parker, Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore.

Despite the signing of Roberto Soldado, AVB (above) has a hitlist of January striking targets which include 20-year-old Italy star El Shaarawy as well as Spain target man Fernando Llorente at Juventus.

Jermain Defoe is expected to move in January, while Emmanuel Adebayor has been frozen out by Villas-Boas.

AVB is willing to let Spurs misfit Adebayor go out on loan and reckons the big striker could do with games at Championship level to keep him sharp, with Harry Redknapp’s QPR interested.

El Sharaawy would cost at least £20million.

Llorente, 28, could be a more realistic target, though. He is struggling to make an impact in Turin after a Bosman free from Athletic Bilbao.