• Tottenham want striker now but loan-back deal is best they can hope for • Championship side need talented teenager for battle against relegation

Tottenham Hotspur have been told by Fulham they cannot have Moussa Dembélé before Monday’s transfer deadline.

Spurs want cover for Harry Kane and have made the 19-year-old centre-forward their prime January target but their best chance of signing Dembélé would appear to be on a loan-back deal.

It would be similar to the one they negotiated last February with MK Dons for Dele Alli. The midfielder’s £5m move was agreed on 2 February but he returned to MK Dons for the remainder of the season before joining Spurs in the summer.

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Dembélé is out of contract at the end of the season, although he would not be available then for free; a tribunal would stand to fix the fee for him. Tottenham see merit in striking a deal now, which would enable them to beat off any competition in the summer but their need for a new striker is immediate.

So is Fulham’s need for Dembélé, and they have made that plain to Tottenham. As they languish 19th in the Championship, four points above the relegation zone, no amount of money they could receive now from a permanent sale feels worthwhile when set against the risk of going down.

Tottenham have scouted many strikers but Dembélé, who is strong and quick, ticks a lot of boxes. He has 11 goals in all competitions this season.

Fulham’s position is also entrenched because they are under a Football League transfer ban, which means they would not be allowed to reinvest immediately the proceeds of any sale.

The embargo for transgressing financial fair play regulations applies to the January window alone and there is the provision for the club to make loan signings, although they are able to offer only low wages. They are close to a short-term deal for the Sturm Graz centre-half Michael Madl.

Fulham depend on Dembélé and the other key striker, Ross McCormack, and worry about who would score the goals to keep them in the Championship if either left. McCormack, too, has his admirers and a £9m bid from Middlesbrough was rejected.