Tottenham Pinpoint United Striker As Adebayor Replacement – Report

Tottenham have pinpointed Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez as their desired replacement for Emmanuel Adbayor this January with the club hoping the Mexican international will push for a move to fill the shoes of the man who has fallen out of favour with Andre Villas-Boas.

After a successful season on loan with Spurs throughout the 2011-12 campaign, Adebayor was signed on a permanent deal from Manchester City to solve the club's striker shortage.

But the Togo international followed that up with a particularly disappointing season in which Gareth Bale had to produce much of Tottenham's goals to keep them in the fight for a top four finish.

This season the club have purchased a host of attacking players to make up for the loss of Bale and with Jermain Defoe performing impressively the England international is in a fight with new signing Roberto Soldado for a starting place up front.

Andre Villas-Boas would however still like more depth in his attack but the manager's decision to demote Adebayor to the reserve team training recently was a sign that he has lost faith in the 29 year old and the Evening Standard are reporting that the club are planning to offload the hitman in January.

With that in mind Hernandez would be the perfect replacement and an asset to any team should he desire a move away from United. After being handed limited opportunities from Sir Alex Ferguson in favour of Danny Welbeck, Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney last season, the Mexico forward has also been left on the bench multiple times by incoming manager David Moyes.

The 25 year old was a target for Valencia in the summer but insisted he wanted to compete for his place at United. But with a World Cup coming up - for which Mexico are yet to book their place - playing time will be of the upmost importance for the striker and potentially significant bargaining chip for Tottenham.