United contact Tottenham over out-of-favour striker Defoe

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• More Premier League news club by club

It is understood United chief executive David Gill has rung Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy to ask if the England international is for sale.

Defoe has 18 months left on his contract and even though he insists he wants to stay at the club, he has yet to sign a new deal.

Levy, who is also facing a fight to keep striker Dimitar Berbatov after the player's agent claimed he wanted to quit the club, is concerned Defoe could emulate former Tottenham defender Sol Campbell by letting his contract run down and then leave on a free transfer.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, a big admirer of Defoe, is looking to sign another forward due to concerns over Louis Saha's fitness.

Much of the talk has been of United wanting Berbatov, who scored four goals in the 6-4 win over Reading on Saturday, during the transfer window.

But it is believed the Bulgaria international will stay until the end of the season, despite his agent Emil Dantchev claiming the striker wants to leave White Hart Lane.

He is today reported to have said: "I have already spoken to the Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy, and told him that if a club that correspond to Dimitar's class and ambition come in with an offer that suits his current club in January, he would like to be allowed to go.

"Two clubs outside of England and one from the Premier League are interested in him."

Levy has put out a statement insisting the club are not looking to sell their star players. He said: "Once again for the record, we are not a selling club, rather we are building for the future. When we have players on long contracts, we have no need to entertain offers."

But the latter does not apply to Defoe and an offer of £10m will tempt Levy to cash in on the 25-year-old, with England defender Brown - who has refused to sign a new four-year deal at Old Trafford - possibly going the other way.

Spurs manager Juande Ramos is looking to sign two defenders and scouts from the club were at Ajax's game at Venlo yesterday to watch Urby Emanuelson in action.

Spurs, who have already had a £5.5m bid turned down, see him as a good addition to the squad, especially amid fears that Gareth Bale is struggling to return before the end of the season due to a foot injury.