Tottenham Hotspur duo Mousa Dembele and Nacer Chadli discussed Lokomotiv Moscow January move

Tottenham Hotspur duo Mousa Dembele and Nacer Chadli were both on the brink of leaving the club for Lokomotiv Moscow during the January transfer window, president Olga Smorodskaya has confirmed.

Dembele and Chadli have made 31 and 34 appearances respectively this season and have been influential figures during manager Mauricio Pochettino's first campaign in charge and the club's run to the League Cup final.

However, both players could have left White Hart Lane during the mid-season window after they held talks with Russian giants Lokomotiv, who even agreed terms with Chadli, before the deals fell through.

"We considered Dembele, negotiated with him," Smorodskaya claimed. "We also talked with Chadli from Spurs.

"The second [with Chadli] practically agreed, I had mentally congratulated him [on becoming a Lokomotiv player]. But it did not happen – at the last moment he changed his mind."

Tottenham made few significant moves during the January window, fast-tracking the addition of DeAndre Yedlin from Seattle Sounders and signing Milton Keynes Dons midfielder Dele Alli on a pre-contract agreement.

Kyle Naughton joined Swansea City and Benoit Assou-Ekotto's contract was cancelled in the only departures from Tottenham, with Pochettino's overhaul of a squad, which has seen several players left on the peripheral, not set to be overhauled until the summer.

Emmanuel Adebayor, Paulinho, Vlad Chiriches and Younes Kaboul have all played a limited role this season and are among the players that could leave a Spurs side still in the race for a top-four finish.

Pochettino's side travel to Manchester United on 15 March in a pivotal game in the top-four ambitions, with the club three points behind the Old Trafford club going into the final 10 games of the season.