Jermain Defoe will be presented to the Tottenham fans before the club's Carling Cup semi-final tie with Burnley following his return to White Hart Lane from Portsmouth.

Defoe arrived at Tottenham's Chigwell training ground with chairman Daniel Levy this morning after the clubs agreed a fee in the early hours of today and he was due to undergo a medical before signing a five-year contract.

Portsmouth were initially looking for £20million for the England international striker, with Spurs agreeing to pay about £16m, but Standard Sport understands the north Londoners will actually hand over £4.5m to Pompey.

The South coast club still owed Spurs £4.5m of the £9m deal that took Defoe to Fratton Park a year ago; £5m from the transfer of Younes Kaboul to the south coast last summer, as well as £2m of the Pedro Mendes deal in January 2006.

Defoe should be able to make his second "debut" for Spurs in their fixture at Wigan on Sunday - provided they can register him in time.

The Premier League's rule L19 states that a club may not re-sign a player within 12 months of having cancelled his contract. Taken in its strictest terms, this would mean Defoe could not play for Spurs until 8 February, as he did not complete his move to Pompey until 31 January last year.

But the Premier League board are not expected to impose such a restriction on Spurs. The rule is designed to prevent top-flight clubs from circumventing the loan system, and the board are unlikely to create obstacles for Defoe's move as it is a permanent transfer.

The deal is worth almost £7m more than the one that saw Defoe move to the south coast last year, but Harry Redknapp - who took the player to Portsmouth at the time - made it clear to Spurs chairman Daniel Levy that Defoe was his No1 target.

The striker had also been targeted by Manchester City and Aston Villa, but a return to Spurs was always his priority.

He said: "I can't deny that Harry Redknapp's departure in October hit me hard, particularly because he was the primary reason for joining Portsmouth in the first place.

"I left Tottenham to join Portsmouth with the intention of working with Harry for a considerable time to come. I enjoy being around him because he brings the best out of me, and that is all you can ask for from a manager."

While Defoe's move has proved relatively straight-forward, Redknapp may have more difficulty trying to prise fellow England star Stewart Downing away from Middlesbrough.

Downing is angry with Boro for refusing to allow him to join Spurs after they rejected his transfer request yesterday, and they have since turned down Spurs' latest offer worth £13m.

The Spurs boss will be hoping a breakdown in relations between Downing and the Teessiders will help secure his signature before the end of the month.

Boro continue insist that Downing will not leave the club this month, but it is understood that they would accept a £15m bid.

While Boro chairman Steve Gibson is holding firm on Downing for now, the club must decide whether it is worth hanging on to a player whose heart is clearly elsewhere, especially after Downing's father, Stewart Snr, said his son needed to leave Boro for the sake of his career.

Redknapp also today confirmed he had expressed an interest in bringing back Pascal Chimbonda, who left Spurs to join Sunderland last summer, on loan, and he could also sign Ghana midfielder Stephen Appiah until the end of the season.

Appiah, who is currently without a club, is training with Spurs this week, and a deal will be agreed if he can prove his fitness.