Glenn Hoddle stepped up his rebuilding process at Tottenham Hotspur yesterday when he signed Bobby Zamora for £1.5 million to take his summer spending to £7.75 million.

The former Brighton striker was paraded at White Hart Lane as one of the most sought after players outside the English Premiership, thanks to his 83 goals in 134 starts for Brighton.

"We've monitored him very closely for two seasons," said Hoddle, "and he's a young player with fantastic potential. Bobby's a proven goalscorer outside of the Premier League. I'm sure he can score goals in the Premiership.

"We've got three youngsters up front here now and we have players who can hit good movement. I think Bobby will maybe get more goals than he had down at Brighton."

Hoddle's latest purchase is something of a gamble as the Tottenham manager, who faced a crisis board meeting in March after his failure to produce European qualification, finally begins to put his faith in youth over experience as he attempts to bring Spurs' wage bill down.

The high earners' old guard of Teddy Sheringham and Tim Sherwood has been packed off to Portsmouth's Premiership retirement home with Darren Anderton soon perhaps to join them.

Zamora will join the young front line of Robbie Keane and the £6.25 million Portuguese international Helder Postiga. Hoddle knows his future is at risk if he does not produce the goods this season. "It's an inflated market with Chelsea," said Hoddle. "Outside that, I'm not sure that football can afford it. But it's a good time for us to have bought. But we've got those three strikers at the moment and I won't say that we won't strengthen the squad further down the line."

Zamora is aware of the expectations at White Hart Lane: "Last year they expected a lot here. There are a lot of good players here and hopefully I can add to that and push on."

Hoddle still has more chaff to discard. Sergei Rebrov has been ejected from Fenerbahce only 12 months into an 18-month-long loan deal and Anderton continues to be a millstone on the wage bill.

Steffen Iversen, whose catalogue of injuries has hampered his Spurs career, is in talks with Wolves. But unless Hoddle can ease his wage bill, further recruitment will be tricky.

Meanwhile, Trevor Sinclair has agreed a four-year contract to join Manchester City and the £2.5 million move is expected to be completed over the weekend.

The England winger was in Manchester yesterday finalising details of his move to the club he supported as a boy. The final details of the switch are expected to be concluded in the next 48 hours. Sinclair will become City boss Kevin Keegan's third summer signing if he successfully completes a medical over the next couple of days

Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren is stepping up his interest in Gary Speed after apparently losing out on Sinclair. The Wales captain has one year left on his contract at Newcastle but is upset he has only been offered an extension on a reduced salary.

One player moving closer to signing for Middlesbrough on a year-long loan is Real Madrid's Brazilian midfielder Flavio Conceicao. "The agreement between the clubs is total and Flavio's deal is nearly done," said the Real director Jorge Valdano yesterday. However a Middlesbrough spokesman said: "Total isn't the word we would use."

Former Chelsea midfielder Jody Morris has completed his move to Leeds after concluding a medical this afternoon.