Juande Ramos, the Tottenham Hotspur head coach, is planning a clear-out of his unwanted strikers in an attempt to keep Dimitar Berbatov at the club. In addition to Jermain Defoe, who revealed yesterday that he had been told he could leave, the Spaniard is ready to offload Darren Bent, who has managed only two Barclays Premier League goals since his £16.5 million move from Charlton Athletic last summer.

While Ramos wants to keep Defoe until the end of the season, he would be happy to see Bent go during the present transfer window, but Daniel Levy, his chairman, is anxious to recoup a substantial portion of the outlay. West Ham United have expressed an interest in a player who rejected them last summer, although they are likely to balk at Tottenham’s £13 million valuation. Aston Villa and Manchester City are monitoring Defoe’s situation without yet preparing a formal offer, but a bid before the transfer window closes in three weeks would test Tottenham’s resolution to hang on to a player who has just 18 months remaining on his contract.

Much of Ramos’s planning is based around an attempt to mollify Berbatov, whose future remains uncertain despite his recent pledge to stay until the end of the season. The Bulgaria striker has made no attempt to disguise his displeasure at being asked to play alongside Defoe and also has little regard for Bent.

Ramos would be unwise to tailor all his long-term planning to Berbatov’s needs, however, as his desire to play for a Champions League club has not diminished. Manchester United are ready to make a bid in the summer and Chelsea could also become involved if Didier Drogba succeeds in forcing through a transfer.

He is a player who was highly rated by Arsène Wenger long before Tottenham signed him in July 2006. “I have known about him for a long time. I look always more at the individual quality of a player first, and Berbatov had technical top quality,” said the Arsenal manager, speaking before tonight’s Carling Cup semi-final, first leg against Tottenham at the Emirates Stadium.

Ramos remains bullish about tonight’s game, despite Tottenham not having beaten their North London rivals in 20 attempts stretching back to 1999, the latest being a 2-1 defeat last month, and trailing them by 26 points in the Barclays Premier League.

“There is tremendous equality between the teams,” he said. “They might be the leaders, but a couple of weeks ago we showed we are close to them. We were very close to winning that match. If we do things well and get a good result at their ground, we can come back to White Hart Lane and go through to the final.

“We want to do everything possible for Tottenham to win, not for personal recognition but to reach a final. It has been a long time since we did that.”

Ramos is without Bent (knee), Gareth Bale (foot), Younès Kaboul (ankle) and Tom Huddlestone (suspended), in addition to Didier Zokora, who is on African Cup of Nations duty with the Ivory Coast, but will otherwise pick his strongest possible side.

Tottenham held a 2-0 half-time lead in the first leg of last season’s semi-final before losing 5-3 on aggregate and must demonstrate greater defensive resilience if they are to reach the final. Paul Robinson, in particular, will be keen to make up for Saturday’s errors against Reading in his first appearance in front of Fabio Capello, the new England manager.

“We need to be strong as it’s a tough game against Arsenal,” Robinson said. “We need to shore up at the back. We’ve worked hard on it and it’s starting to come, but it needs to come quickly because we have got a tough month coming up.”

Striking difference

Jermain Defoe has not been given much of a chance this season, but his scoring rate in relation to playing time is much better in the Barclays Premier League than Dimitar Berbatov’s. Defoe has also been more clinical, scoring with 20 per cent of his chances compared with Berbatov’s 18 per cent. Where the Bulgaria striker shines, however, is creatively, with seven assists and 38 goalscoring chances created overall.

Berbato v Defoe

Appearances
Berbatov 20
Defoe 17

Mins on pitch
Berbatov 1,610
Defoe 438

Goals
Berbatov 8
Defoe 4

Chance conversion
Berbatov 18%
Defoe 20%

Goal assists
Berbatov 7
Defoe 1

Chances created
Berbatov 38
Defoe 4