Valencia, Ashton, Johnson, Keane and the Keeper Situation

News from White Hart Lane was kind of slow the past few days, but Tottenham has been linked with a few more players, most notably to Antonio Valencia and (again) to Dean Ashton.

Wigan's Valencia is another winger, giving hints that Redknapp may not be satisfied with the recent of David Bentley. The Ecuadorian international is a favorite of Steve Bruce's, but could probably be had for £7 million. Valencia could be a very solid addition to the current Spurs squad.

The other recent rumor, which has really been around since the end of summer (along with the Emile Heskey and Michael Owen ones) is that Tottenham is interested in West Ham's Dean Ashton. The interesting part about that, besides the striker's rather prolific injury record, is that Spurs are also supposedly interested in West Ham defender Matthew Upson and keeper Robert Green. Like Owen, Ashton is a very good player if he can remain healthy, but he doesn't do that very often. If Harry Redknapp can purchase him at a discount value (which he may not be because Aston Villa and Manchester City reportedly want him, too), he would be a good buy. Otherwise, I would advise against it.

Redknapp has also been linked with Glen Johnson, who he coached at Portsmouth, as a potential target. Johnson is a very solid player who would be a good target and may be able to be had at reasonable value, as Redknapp's relationship with Portsmouth still appears to be good.

As far as the goalkeeper search goes, Tottenham may have some competition for the services of Carlos Kameni, as both Fullham and Newcastle are reportedly interested in the Espanyol keeper. Why Newcastle is interested is very unclear, as they already have Shay Given and Steve Harper, but a bidding war for a player who would probably be a backup keeper is not advisable.

Redknapp also spoke about Ben Foster, saying that he is very expensive right now and that if Spurs bought him, he wouldn't be a backup for them. He also said that he couldn't see Alex Ferguson selling Foster anytime soon.

As far as the Robbie Keane rumors go, it appears as if there are rules in English football that prevent a player from being sold back to his former club in a 12 month window, meaning that the striker will not be returning to White Hart Lane until at least the summer transfer window.