Tottenham Hotspur have tonight successfully concluded the signing of Jonathan Woodgate, the England defender, from Middlesbrough.

The clubs had earlier confirmed they had reached agreement for the 28-year-old, who joined the Teesside club from Real Madrid in August 2006, initially on loan.

For a short time today, it appeared that Spurs were in danger of losing their man, as a third club, still to be named, entered the race to sign Woodgate after they also agreed a fee.

Ultimately, though, Woodgate opted for White Hart Lane, signing a three-and-a-half-year deal today after passing a medical last night.

Spurs had agreed to pay initial £6 million, rising to £7.5 million, for Woodgate, who turned down a return move to Newcastle United on the weekend.

Arsenal, who have been interested in Woodgate in the past, were believed to be the club involved but have since denied the claims. "I do not know where that story came from. There is no truth in it at all," Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, said. "We have never been in touch with Middlesbrough about Jonathan Woodgate."

Kevin Keegan, the Newcastle manager, had felt for some time that he was likely to miss out on Woodgate.

"We have got to be realistic. When I look at the whole thing, I think Jonathan Woodgate had made a commitment already to another club and the deal was seven-eighths done before I even came to this club," he said.

"That's the advantage of clubs being able to plan for four or five weeks of a transfer window, not two weeks. I jumped in because I thought there was an opportunity there - and I genuinely believed there was - but we were not able to take advantage of sweet-talking and things like that.

"I know Jonathan very well and I knew Middlesbrough were prepared to sell him, so that gave me the chance to have an input there. I tried my best and it didn't quite work. The lad had made a promise already and given his word. He didn't go back on it and that's to his credit.

"To be honest with you, we did say at the start that unless we could get quality players in who were going to better us, we would not get any in."

Woodgate is one of Middlesbrough's prize assets but the defender has been troubled by injuries in the past few years and Keith Lamb, the club's chief executive, said manager Gareth Southgate was happy to let the player go providing his valuation - believed to be around £8 million - was met.

"We've agreed a fee with Tottenham and as far as I'm aware he went down at the weekend to have a medical and we're just waiting to see," Lamb said. "We agreed a fee with Tottenham, Newcastle and another club but we left it up to Jonathan, he could stay or go."

"We've got an abundance of centre backs and with the emergence of David Wheater and with Robert Huth back and Emanuel Pogatetz, Gareth felt he could let one of them go."

Southgate said on Sunday: "The latest is that we have given him permission to speak to Newcastle and to Tottenham. He has got a decision to make, whether he wants to be part of what we are doing or whether he wants to move on somewhere else."