Tottenham are poised to launch a second bid for David Bentley after having an £11million offer turned down by Blackburn.

Although it was £4m less than that made by Aston Villa last month Spurs were hoping to succeed because the former Arsenal midfielder wants to return to London.

Juande Ramos is keen to get the 23-year-old England international and is set to increase his bid.

Rovers insist they do not want to sell Bentley, and their chairman John Williams said: "We have had bids from two clubs. One came in when Mark Hughes was manager, the other was fairly recent. They have both been rejected."

While Spurs chase Bentley, Sir Alex Ferguson insists Dimitar Berabtov will leave White Hart Lane for Manchester United before the start of the season.

Standard Sport revealed on Monday that United would seal a £28m deal for the striker once Spurs had a replacement.

The London club insist he is not for sale, yet head coach Juande Ramos yesterday couldn't guarantee he was staying. Furthermore, they are closing in on Spartak Moscow's Roman Pavlyuchenko, who is valued at £12m.

Ferguson said: "We have made Spurs an offer and we have good expectations that this deal will go through. Berbatov would be a great addition to our attack.

"We will not stress this situation. We are hoping to have a constructive conversation with Spurs in the near future."

Sunderland, meanwhile, have made a £12m bid for Spurs trio Steed Malbranque, Pascal Chimbonda and Teemu Tainio, all of whom are available for transfer.

There are unconfirmed reports that the trio have left Tottenham's training camp in Spain to sort out there futures.

Sunderland also want Younes Kaboul but the French defender's agent ridiculed the suggestion of a move there.

"Younes wouldn't join Sunderland even if there was an earthquake," said Rudy Raba.

"We have more interesting options than that. Don't even think about it. I can tell you for sure he's going to stay in England next season.

"No disrespect to Sunderland, but playing there wouldn't help his international career."