Negredo on verge of England move

Real Madrid striker Alvaro Negredo is on the verge of a move to the English Premier League, most likely to Tottenham, radio Cadena SER reported Tuesday.

Tottenham is willing to pay between 25 and 28 million euros for the 23-year-old, who has returned from a loan spell at Spanish side Almeria, where he scored 19 times, the radio station said.

The announcement of his transfer could be made in the next 48 hours, it added. Negredo is currently with Real at a training camp in Ireland.

Real's spending spree of over 200 million euros on Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzima and Raul Albiol has created congestion in the locker room and Negredo's departure could be the first of many.

"We need now to concentrate our efforts to convince some players that they will have to leave. A reasonable squad is 25 players; ours is now 35," Real president Florentino Perez told Spanish television.

Among the other players whose exit is being negotiated is Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, linked to a move to German side Stuttgart and fellow Dutch midfielder Rafael Van der Vaart, who is possibly on his way to Hamburg.