Tottenham are ready to splash out a staggering £20 million on West Ham forward Dean Ashton.

The Daily Express says the White Hart Lane club are reportedly considering a fee of £20m for the West Ham star - which would take their closed-season spending spree up to £50million.

The Hammers are reluctant to sell their main striker, after having sold Bobby Zamora to Fulham and Craig Bellamy's latest injury and reportedly rejected the first offer of £15m for the England forward.

But Spurs seem intent on persuading the Hammers with money in what has been a summer of crazy spending for Juande Ramos's side.

A move for Ashton would ease the pressure on the Spurs front line following Robbie Keane's move to Liverpool and doubts over the future of Dimitar Berbatov.