Tottenham are looking at replacing Manchester United-bound Dimitar Berbatov with Russia's lanky Euro 2008 striker Roman Pavlyuchenko.

It has been reported in Russia that Spurs sporting director Damien Comolli watched Pavlyuchenko play in Spartak Moscow's 5-1 defeat by CSKA Moscow at the weekend. Comolli is then believed to have talked to the 26-year-old's agent Oleg Artyomov after the game about a possible move to White Hart Lane.

Spurs are on the hunt for a new striker with Berbatov set to move to United in a £28million deal and Pavlyuchenko is one of the most highly-rated forwards in Europe.

The club won't let Berbatov go until they have a replacement and the 6ft 3in Pavlyuchenko fits the bill, although Spartak are determined to get at least £12m for him.

Berbatov played for 45 minutes in Tottenham's 8-0 win against Spanish side Tavernes last night in a pre-season friendly. But while the Bulgarian failed to score, £4.7m signing Giovani dos Santos marked his debut with two goals.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa have made a late bid to try and hijack Tottenham's signing of winger David Bentley. But Spurs are still expected to win the race for the England international as he has made it clear he only wants to go to the north London club.

Bentley did not play in Blackburn's friendly against Macclesfield last night, with Rovers claiming he had a calf strain. New manager Paul Ince is adamant that he wants to keep Bentley, but that could be another attempt to raise the asking price above £17m.

Ince said: "Only time will tell whether he is here next month. We have had an offer from Aston Villa, but I do not want him to go. He is injured but I hope to take him to Germany tomorrow for our training trip."

Ince also denied he is interested in taking Spurs goalkeeper Paul Robinson as part of the deal and wants Brad Friedel to stay at Ewood Park. Aston Villa are leading the chase for the 37-year-old American, who has also been linked with Manchester City, now managed by his former Rovers boss Mark Hughes.

Tottenham assistant coach Gus Poyet has confirmed he is staying at the club after being linked with the vacancy at Manchester United.

He said: "I want to stay with this manager, this group of players and this club because I'm very happy.

"When you are in England and you are lucky enough to be with one of the big teams you are always going to get speculation. You ignore it."