Fulham playmaker Mousa Dembele set to join Tottenham

Fulham playmaker Mousa Dembele was having a medical at Tottenham on Tuesday night ahead of a big-money move across London.

The Belgium midfielder, 25, has a £15million release clause in his Craven Cottage contract and Fulham were not willing to entertain offers under that figure.

The Cottagers had activated a clause for an extra 12 months in Dembele’s contract, but the Spurs offer proved too tempting and the player indicated he wanted to go.

Spurs had seen an offer for Brazilian attacker Willian from Shakhtar Donetsk rejected at the weekend and instead switched their target to Dembele, based on his Barclays Premier League experience.

The signing comes 48 hours after the sale of Luka Modric to Real Madrid and follows pressure mounting on chairman Daniel Levy to bring in new faces.

Dembele will not be the only signing before Friday’s transfer deadline; Spurs stepped up their interest in CSKA Moscow forward Alan Dzagoev — one of the stars of Euro 2012.