Florian Thauvin
Tottenham were turned away in deadline day move for Thauvin. Reuters

Tottenham Hotspur failed in a bid to sign Marseille midfielder Florian Thauvin on transfer deadline day in an offer that also included midfielder Etienne Capoue moving in the other direction, reports in the French press claim.

Capoue arrived at White Hart Lane as part of the £100m overhaul that took place over the summer but through a mixture of injury and intense competition for places in midfield the France international has struggled to impose himself on the starting XI.

It appeared the former Toulouse man would bring a swift end to his spell at the club when Napoli approached Tottenham during the January transfer window, having failed in their attempts to sign Maxime Gonalons from Lyon.

While the Premier League side were open to selling the 25-year-old, their demands for Capoue proved to be too high for the Serie A side, as revealed by the midfielder's agent during Napoli's failed negotiations.

But French newspaper Le Provence report Spurs made a late attempt to offload their summer signing as they sought to make 21-year-old Thauvin their sole piece of incoming transfer business on deadline day. However, the club's interest was scuppered Marseille's refusal to listen to offers for the starlet, who only joined the club from Lille last summer.

The France Under-21 international initially attracted interest from north London last season, when his sparkling performances for Bastia in the first half of the campaign caught the eye of both Spurs and Arsenal.

But it was Lille who swooped first to sign Thauvin in January, who then allowed the youngster to see out the remainder of the season with his former club.

After a fantastic Under-20 World Cup campaign with France things began to sour. Just after arriving from Lille, Thauvin vehemently pushed for a move to a bigger club and after weeks of negotiations forced his way to Marseille - for a fee three times what Lille paid just six months earlier.

But the attacking midfielder has begun to attract the headlines for the right reasons once again this season having scored six goals and provided a further three in 18 appearances for OM this season.