By PAUL JIGGINS
TOTTENHAM are looking at a new £30million strikeforce of David Villa and Leandro Damiao to fire them into the top four.
Spurs were last night closing in on a £10m swoop for Barcelona’s Spanish striker Villa.
And they hope to follow that up by landing Brazilian Damiao for £20m.
White Hart Lane chairman Daniel Levy will splash the cash after seeing North London rivals Arsenal pip his club to a Champions League place this month.
Shot-shy Spurs finished one point and one place below the Gunners. Not only that, but they managed just 29 goals in their 19 Prem home games — the lowest of any of the top-eight teams.
The failure to bring in a new striker in January was cited as one of the main reasons why they failed to make a Champions League spot.
Levy is determined not to let that happen again next term and has begun talks with Barca about Villa.
The star, 31, wants to quit the Nou Camp in a bid for regular first-team football.
The Spaniards are looking for £12m for Villa — but Levy is trying to negotiate a deal which would see Tottenham pay an initial £8m, plus a further £2m in add-ons.
Levy also has plans to make a new bid for Damiao.
The Samba ace, 23, was top scorer at last summer’s Olympics football tournament.
Spurs had a £16m offer for the Internacional player turned down in January.
And Levy is set to make an improved bid he hopes will capture Damiao.
But the he faces competition from Spanish side Atletico Madrid, who are also keen on the striker.
The impending signings of Villa and Damiao would leave huge question marks hanging over the Tottenham futures of Jermain Defoe and, in particular, Emmanuel Adebayor.
England man Defoe scored 15 goals in all competitions, while Togo star Adebayor managed just eight — four of those coming in the final eight weeks.
Landing Villa and Damiao would certainly boost Levy’s efforts to stop star man Gareth Bale from quitting White Hart Lane.
The Welsh wizard is a £60m target for all of Europe’s top guns following Spurs’ failure to get into the Champions League.
But Levy remains confident he can keep Bale by giving him a new deal and bringing in several top-class signings to play alongside him.
That has not stopped Real Madrid, though, from going on the charm offensive to bag their No 1 target this summer.
Last week Sergio Ramos called on Bale to move to the Bernabeu. Last night it was striker Angel Di Maria’s turn.
The Argie said: “It doesn’t matter how good you are — playing with better players makes you better.
“Here at Madrid every day I train with players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka who have won World Player of the Year.
“If you are playing and training with players like that it has a positive affect on you game — because you are always learning off them.
“We know that Zidane is a big fan of Gareth Bale and based on this season it is easy to see why. Maybe he can go on and in a few seasons be the best in the world.”
