Tottenham Hotspur are planning to smash their transfer record to bring AC Milan's Ukrainian striker Andrei Shevchenko to White Hart Lane, according to a newspaper report today.
The Guardianrevealed Tottenham coach Glenn Hoddle hopes to negotiate the transfer in the next two weeks for a fee of around £30 million pounds.
The newspaper said Tottenham are willing to swap their Norwegian international striker Steffen Iversen, a member of the Rosenborg side which eliminated AC Milan from the Champions League in 1996, as part of the deal.
It is understood that Shevchenko would relish a move to England to team up with Ukraine strike partner Sergei Rebrov, with whom he formed an excellent relationship with both Dinamo Kiev and the national side.
Reports in Italy suggest Shevchenko is unhappy at AC Milan who failed to qualify for the Champions League next season.
"Andrei's situation at Milan is not the best and definitely he wishes to play with Sergei," Rebrov's agent and a close friend of Shevchenko, Sandor Varga, told the paper.
"If you put these two players together there is no question the club will be successful."
Tottenham declined to comment when contacted by AFP but the Guardianbelieve that Tottenham's owner ENIC is trying to negotiate a deal.
ENIC's billionaire founder Joe Lewis, who has already signed the cheques to bring Teddy Sheringham, Uruguayan Gus Poyet and Goran Bunjevcevic, is determined to bring the glory days back to White Hart Lane.
-AFP