Hopeful Tottenham Hotspur arrivals: Mohamed Diame

This post is part of a deadline morning series on potential Tottenham transfers. You can find all of the posts in the series right here, as well as the initial post explaining this series right here.

Mohamed Diame was an effective player during his time at Wigan Athletic, but he's seriously raised his profile since joining up with Sam Allardyce at West Ham United. Because West Ham don't have the same technical players that Roberto Martinez prefers, he's been made to look like an absolute genius in the center for the Hammers, breaking up play and starting counters. He's also good for a couple goals a season.

Quick bio: Mohamed Diame is a Senegalese box-to-box midfielder who signed for West Ham over the summer. He's rumored to have a £3.5m release clause, but has indicated he would like to stay with West Ham.

Age: 25

Likelihood he's transfered today: Small, considering that he wants to stay at West Ham, but Arsenal and Tottenham might get desperate for a defensive midfielder.

Potential suitors: Arsenal and Tottenham. It's tough to see anyone else making a last-ditch move.

Price if he's sold: A bit more than £3.5m to add some incentive for West Ham and Diame to get this done.

Are Spurs the front-runners?: No, Arsenal certainly are if they remain interested, simply because he's not a quick fix for them. They don't have a defensive midfielder. Diame would be Tottenham's cover for Sandro.

The verdict - Could he be a Spurs player on February 1?: Could he? Sure. Will he be? It seems quite unlikely. If he has a change of heart and decides that he is willing to move to another London club, Arsenal would be silly not to pounce and make sure that they get him ahead of us.

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