Etienne Capoue
Capoue still chased by Napoli.

Tottenham Hotspur have told Napoli they must part with Goran Pandev if they want to sign Etienne Capoue this January, reports in the Italian press suggest.

Rafa Benitez is keen to add the Frenchman to his midfield options and reportedly submitted an opening offer of €9m for the 25-year-old last week.

Despite just joining Spurs from Toulouse during the summer transfer window, Capoue's lack of first team football has left him with little choice but to consider a winter move away from the club, should the right offer come in.

Aware of Napoli's eagerness to sign the midfielder, Il Mattino suggest Tottenham will look to exploit that by demanding Pandev be included in any deal.

According to the report, Tottenham will accept an offer in the region of €6m-€8m in addition to the Macedonian forward, whose contract at the Stadio San Paolo expires in the summer of 2015.

Il Mattino suggest that such is Napoli's desperation to add another midfielder to their ranks that they will strongly consider allowing 30-year-old Pandev to move to the Premier League.

The club have already been knocked back in their attempts to sign Lyon captain Maxime Gonalons while they are unlikely to afford a €15m bid for Rubin Kazan midfielder and one-time Tottenham target Yann M'Vila, who is also reportedly under consideration.

Capoue is one of a number of Tottenham players to be linked with moves away at the half way point in the season and head coach Tim Sherwood recently revealed he is more than happy to let some of his fringe players leave if they wish.

When asked if he would allow players to leave in search of first team action, Sherwood told reporters: "Yes, absolutely. As long as they're the right players and the ones that I don't want to take us forward, then I am happy.

"You can only go with a certain amount of players, obviously the pressure's on because it is a World Cup year for a lot of these players.

"It is importantly that they're playing. We can't guarantee that they're going to get maximum game time, but we certainly won't be leaving ourselves short. If no one left I wouldn't be shedding any tears over that either."