Transfer news: Watford striker Troy Deeney emerges as a shock target on Tottenham radar

Andre Villas-Boas is interested in the 25-year-old with Jermain Defoe likely to leave White Hart Lane

Troy Deeney celebrates scoring against his boyhood-club Birmingham to give Watford a 1-0 win (Getty Images)

Watford striker Troy Deeney has emerged as a shock target for Tottenham after his goals projected the Hornets to the Championship Play-off final last season.

Spurs are looking for further additions in attack with Jermain Defoe set to follow Clint Dempsey out of White Hart Lane, with the American joining the Seattle Sounders last week despite having two years to run on his contract.

West Ham are believed to be interested in Defoe as well as Fulham, and Queens Park Rangers boss Harry Redknapp, who has coached Defoe throughout his career, has spoken on his desire to talk the striker into a move to the Championship.

This leaves Emmanuel Adebayor and new signing Roberto Soldado as the strike choices for manager Andre Villas-Boas, and would mirror the problem he had last season of only having two forwards to choose from. Villas-Boas’ request for an additional striker has led to Deeney, with the powerful striker valued at around £5m by his current club.

Deeney scored 20 goals last year even though he missed the opening month of the season after he was serving a 10-month prison sentence for his part in an attack outside a Birmingham nightclub in February that year, of which he served a third of the term before being released.

The 25-year-old joined Watford from Walsall three years ago in a deal worth £500,000, and he only signed a new contract with the club in March, with manager Gianfranco Zola facing the prospect of losing the prolific Deeney on a free this summer until he signed the deal.

He scored the last-gasp winner against Leicester that sent Watford to Wembley, but they eventually lost to Crystal Palace in the push for promotion to the Premier League. Nevertheless, Watford start this season as one of the favourites to be promoted, and Deeney has carried on his rich scoring form after he scored a hat-trick in the 6-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.