Everton set to make £12m swoop for tottenham duo....
Everton boss David Moyes is making a £12 million double raid for Tottenham bad boy David Bentley and Scottish international team-mate Alan Hutton.
The Goodison club have opened talks with Spurs for the available pair and could get their men if they increase the offer before the window shuts at the end of the month.
Moyes's surprise double move also suggests he is now planning for spending money - with Joleon Lescott's sale to Manchester City giving him the cash to bring in more bodies in a hurry.
Everton are willing to pay around £8 million for Bentley, a player Moyes admried last summer when he left Blackburn Rovers for more than double that sum.
Despite Bentley's off-the-field troubles and his late-night car prang Moyes is interested in giving him the stage to show his talents and possibly get back into England's World Cup plans.
Bentley has had a disastrous year at White Hart Lane and is available for the right price - with Spurs supremo Daniel Levy still hopeful of recouping more than Everton have offered so far.
However as Spurs have ruled out the possibility of Bentley going anywhere on loan it could be that Everton's hard cash is the best money on the table for the troubled star.
Moyes is also keen to land Hutton, whose first-team chances at Tottenham are limited by their glut of right backs and the signing of Sheffield United's Kyle Naughton - with Kyle Walker to come.
Hutton has had an injury-hit spell at White Hart Lane since he joined from Rangers which is why Moyes rates him in the £4 million category, which is also much less than Tottenham paid Rangers for him.
Moyes would happily take the Tottenham two immediately and hopes to drive through a deal quickly, but if theprice goes up much higher it will stretch his current bidget beyond breaking point.
But the feeling at Everton is that transfer-seeking Lescott will have to go to City because he is not worth the £20 million-plus they could receive from City for him - with the only last stumbling block being how they handle the sale.
Moyes has been defiant on the issue, but common sense may prevail as time runs out - and Everton look to turn the cash into three or four new faces for a wafer-thin squad