Spurs seal £17m deal for Bentley as Ramos dips into his £50m warchest

Bentley's arrival will see goalkeeper Paul Robinson, who is not in Spain with the rest of the squad, move in the opposite direction after initial interest from Aston Villa and Middlesbrough was not followed up.

Capital gain: David Bentley beats Arsenal's Denilson

Tottenham's £6m valuation of Robinson, who will replace Villabound Brad Friedel, means they have paid Blackburn £11m to land Bentley - a percentage of which will go to his former club, Arsenal.

Bentley originally stated his desire to leave Ewood Park for a side in the Champions League.

But the lack of a bid from the top four coupled with his desire to return to the capital has prompted him to choose Spurs over Villa, Martin O'Neill having had a £15m bid turned down by Blackburn.

The England midfielder is expected to form part of the attacking trident, alongside fellow summer captures Luka Modric and Giovani dos Santos, which Ramos plans to use behind a lone striker. That will pave the way for Berbatov and Keane to leave.

Berbatov is Manchester United's top summer transfer target and, although the Barclays Premier League and Champions League winners have had an opening bid of £20m rejected, they remain confident of landing the Bulgarian.

Sir Alex Ferguson spent yesterday locked in talks with chief executive David Gill formulating United's next move for Berbatov, whom Spurs rate in excess of £30m.

Liverpool remain intent on prising Keane away despite Tottenham's £20m asking price. Berbatov and Keane both played 45 minutes for Tottenham in an 8-0 victory over Tavernes in a friendly in Spain last night.

Spurs have placed Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz at the top of their list to replace Berbatov.

Santa Cruz said: 'I am happy for the great season that I had, the important goals I scored for a small club. Of course, I am motivated by the interest of other clubs, but I repeat, if I do not leave, the plan is to have a better season with Blackburn.'

It remains to be seen whether the Paraguay striker sees Spurs as a step up, especially considering Arsenal are expected to move for him if Emmanuel Adebayor finally gets a move to either Barcelona or AC Milan.

Another option is Spartak Moscow striker Roman Pavlyuchenko. Spurs director of football Damien Comolli watched him fail to score as Spartak were thrashed 5-1 by city rivals CSKA on Saturday.

Comolli also contacted Andrei Arshavin's agent while in Russia, but the player prefers Arsenal.