Tottenham have stepped up their pursuit of Blackburn winger David Bentley as head coach Juande Ramos shapes his squad following the departure of Robbie Keane.

Talks between the clubs are understood to have advanced and there is the possibility of the 23-year-old travelling to Holland this weekend for Spurs' pre-season preparations if negotiations run smoothly.

Indeed reports suggest Bentley will have a Spurs medical on this morning.

Blackburn chairman John Williams confirmed yesterday that discussions were being held, after he had rejected bids earlier in the summer from Spurs as well as Aston Villa.

Ramos will still be in the market for a striker to replace Keane following his move to Liverpool, while Dimitar Berbatov has also been tipped to leave.

However, his pursuit Andrei Arshavin has been thwarted thus far because the fee being sought by Zenit St Petersburg is too high, according to the Russian playmaker's agent.

Dennis Lachter claims Arshavin wants to move to White Hart Lane but that Spurs are no closer to agreeing a fee with Zenit St Petersburg.

He told skysports.com: "At this point there is some talks with Tottenham, but nothing complete because of the high fee Zenit want for Andrei.

"The gap is huge between the two clubs as Zenit are looking for a lot of money for Andrei.

"Juande Ramos very much wants to sign Andrei as he is his number one target and Daniel Levy is doing everthing to make the deal, but it is difficult to agree a fee with Zenit.

"Ramos has been following Andrei from his time in charge of Sevilla and also from last season's Uefa Cup run when Andrei was the outstanding player in the tournament.

"Andrei has made it known he wants to leave Zenit and the player has made his decision he would like to go to Tottenham.

"He likes the way Tottenham play football and he is a big admirer of Ramos."