Harry Redknapp has revived his battle to sign Wilson Palacios - after striking an amazing gentlemans agreement to allow Craig Bellamy to go to Manchester City.
Tottenham boss Redknapp believed he had lost Palacios on Friday after mega-rich City entered the £14m race to sign the Wigan midfielder.
But City yesterday stepped aside on the understanding that Tottenham did not pursue their interest in unhappy West Ham striker Bellamy.
That has cleared the way for Spurs to sign in-demand Palacios after they also offered him an improved contract after the Honduras midfielder rejected their original personal terms of £20,000-a-week.
Palacios, on £10,000-a-week at Wigan, will now get £30,000-a-week plus and Spurs have also been forced to restructure the deal, paying more of the £14m up front after initially wanting to pay the fee over the next four years.
Palacios is the holding midfielder that Redknapp has been desperate to sign since taking over.
Tottenham appear to have got their man while City have now tabled a £13m bid for Hamburgs Dutch midfielder Nigel De Jong who is top of their hit-list.
City will also get Welsh striker Bellamy, 29, after he walked out on West Ham on Friday, refusing to play in their Premier League game with Fulham yesterday.
Bellamy will have talks with City today and insists he is happy to go to Eastlands after originally saying he wanted to join Tottenham.
Welsh firebrand Bellamy claims he had a verbal agreement with West Ham that he would be allowed to talk to any club who made a £10m offer.
Tottenham offered £12m last week - which included £2m worth of add-ons - and yesterday City made a better offer of £14m, although that was made up of £10m with £4m based on appearances and success.
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