Soccer: Spurs splash out for Parker

Harry Redknapp completed his third transfer in two days yesterday when he persuaded Spurs chairman Daniel Levy to stump up for Scott Parker.

Levy, who prefers to invest in players with a sell-on value, had been reluctant to pay for the 30-year-old.

The England international is thought to have moved for around £6 million plus add-ons. The deal follows the captures on Friday of Emmanuel Adebayor from Manchester City, and Spanish under-21 midfielder Yago Falque from Juventus, both on a year's loan.

QPR had also been chasing Parker but Neil Warnock felt more than compensated with the capture of Joey Barton on a free transfer from Newcastle United. His former club pointedly thanked Barton, who has been in innumerable scrapes and served time in prison for assault while at Newcastle, for his "on-field contribution".

The player himself immediately started tweeting that he was "incredibly excited to be joining OPR at this pivotal time in their history". Barton, who is thought to have signed a four-year deal, will be joined at Loftus Road by Aston Villa fullback Luke Young.

Unfortunately for Warnock, whose squad is hit by injuries and suspension, neither deal was completed in time for last night's match at Wigan. Warnock hopes to bring in at least two more players. Armand Traore, the Arsenal fullback, and Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips are thought to be his main targets.

The latter would be the third City player to leave Eastlands in a few days. Having shifted most of Adebayor's salary off the wage bill, Roberto Mancini yesterday continued his clear-out by loaning Belgian defender Dedryck Boyata to Bolton Wanderers for the season.

Liverpool also have dead wood and were pleased to send Alberto Aquilani to Milan on a year's loan with an option to extend his stay until June 2014. Milan can make the injury-prone midfielders's move permanent if he makes 25 appearances this season.

With a dressing room peg free, Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish hopes to conclude Sebastian Coates' arrival but face unexpected competition with Atletico Madrid reportedly bidding £9m for the Uruguayan defender.

Meanwhile, Spurs' London rivals Arsenal have been in pursuit of Bolton and England defender Gary Cahill - but it descended into a public row yesterday after Bolton chairman Phil Gartside republished an abusive message about Arsene Wenger on his Twitter account.

Bolton had rejected a bid from Arsenal for Cahill that was described by their manager Owen Coyle as "a million miles off" and then Gartside re-tweeted a message from a fan that claimed the offer was £6m.

"Arsenal are you taking the **** 6?million for Garry Cahill **** right off!!! pounds wengerisabell," said the message. Re-tweeting is generally regarded as an endorsement of a message, although the post was later deleted from Gartside's Twitter account.

Wenger said that Arsenal had offered more than £6m - it is understood that the bid is potentially worth £10m with add-ons - and also had a rather more direct message for Gartside.

"You can believe Gartside or you can believe me but you are free to do what you want. It's not the truth and if Gartside can say that I am lying, I am ready to confront him."

There is no doubt Arsenal and Bolton remain well apart in their respective valuations for Cahill, who has a release clause of £17m but less than a year remaining on his contract.

As well as his desire to strengthen in central defence, Wenger also wants both a midfielder and a new striker before the transfer window closes on Wednesday. He is looking to the French league to enhance his midfield, with strong interest in Yann D'Vila, Marvin Martin, Lucho Gonzalez and Eden Hazard.

The situation regarding the strikers is more complicated but Wenger is mindful that Robin van Persie will need support, particularly as Marouane Chamakh is due to play in the African Cup of Nations in January and Nicklas Bendtner is still pushing to leave.

Wenger has been interested in France international Karim Benzema, while there is also understood to have been tentative enquiries about loan deals for either Carlos Tevez at Manchester City and Real Madrid's Kaka.

Arsenal face Manchester United at Old Trafford early tomorrow morning and, after a disappointing start in the Premier League, know that defeat would already leave them eight points adrift of the defending champions.

The difficulty of the task is compounded by recent injuries, suspensions and departures. Aaron Ramsey is the only established central midfielder available, meaning Wenger must decide whether to use Johan Djourou or Thomas Vermaelen in an unfamiliar holding role or place his faith in one of his in-experienced players, like Henri Lansbury or Craig Eastmond.

Meanwhile, Manchester City have rejected a renewed attempt by Inter Milan to swap Wesley Sneijder for Tevez with Roberto Mancini revealing that the Argentine forward is ready to stay at the club after moving his family from Buenos Aires to Manchester.

City, who could hand £23m signing Samir Nasri a debut at Tottenham tonight, were approached by Inter officials 10 days ago as the Italians attempted to capitalise on the delay in completing Nasri's move from Arsenal by offering Sneijder in exchange for Tevez. While neighbours Manchester United have been engaged in a lengthy pursuit of Sneijder, City rejected the chance to sign the £35m-rated Dutch midfielder.

Inter's offer underlines the widely-held perception that they are keen to cash in on Sneijder but it is understood that United will not renew their interest ahead of Wednesday's transfer deadline unless the player drastically reduces his salary demands.

Tevez's decision to move his family to Manchester is regarded as significant by City, however, due to his repeated insistence that his attempt to leave the club was in order to be closer to his two daughters.

Mancini believes the 27-year-old can now look forward to bolstering City's attempt to win the Premier League. The Independent (additional reporting from the Daily Telegraph).