Arsenal's hopes of keeping Robin van Persie could rest with London rivals Tottenham and hated former striker Emmanuel Adebayor.
Arsenal officials fear Van Persie has already made up his mind to quit the Emirates after failing to sign a new contract and making it clear he wants to win trophies.
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini is keen to capitalise on the stand-off and is planning to launch a £20million bid for Van Persie, but has been told he must offload at least one big earner first.
And that is where Tottenham and Adebayor, who spent last season on loan at White Hart Lane, come in.
Andre Villas-Boas is set to be named the new Spurs boss this week, just pipping former France boss Laurent Blanc to the post, and has given his blessing for the club to open negotiations over a permanent deal.
Adebayor earns £170,000-a-week at City and getting rid of him would allow them to push ahead with an offer for Van Persie that would include a four-year contract worth a staggering £200,000-a-week.
Tottenham cannot afford to pay Adebayor’s wages, so they are trying to agree a deal that would see them sign the Togo striker on a free, pay a percentage of the final two years of his City contract in a lump sum and then put him in line with the club’s other top earners.
City are still holding out for at least a minimal fee for Adebayor, but realise by getting him off the books they can save around £16m in wages.
Despite Mancini’s frustration, City will try to wait until either Adebayor or Edin Dzeko, who saw a move to Bayern Munich falter in recent weeks, leave Eastlands before officially contacting Arsenal about Van Persie.
Adebayor scored 18 goals on loan at Spurs last season and is keen to return to White Hart Lane, rather than move abroad or go back to City.
As part of their negotiations to make Villas-Boas the new manager, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy checked Adebayor is a player the former Chelsea boss would be happy to work with and was given a positive response.
Villas-Boas received a boost with the news exclusively reported by Sunday Mirror Sport last week that exciting midfielder Gareth Bale has pledged his future to Tottenham and agreed to sign a new-four year contract.
He expects to lose Luka Modric to Real Madrid or Chelsea, but will be given the £30m from his sale and as much as £20m more to help instigate a revamp the Tottenham squad.
As well as Adebayor and Gylfi Sigurdsson, Tottenham still want to sign Ajax defender Jan Vertonghen and are monitoring Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
Villas-Boas has also recommended Spurs sign Porto’s £25m-rated Joao Moutinho, who starred for Portugal at Euro 2012, as a direct replacement for Modric.
He faces a fight with Manchester United for the midfielder.
Central defender Steven Caulker will be given a more prominent role in the Spurs squad after spending last season on loan at Swansea, but William Gallas may well be shipped out.
Villas-Boas is understood to have told Levy that he wants a big first-team squad so that he can rotate and rest players for different competitions.
Levy became frustrated with former boss Harry Redknapp’s reluctance to use more players in the Premier League last season and partly blames that for their failure to hold on to third place and automatic qualification for the Champions League.
Source :Mirror.co.uk
