Tot Tenham are preparing to raid bitter rivals Arsenal for unsettled midfielder Abou Diaby.

And the Gunners are willing to sell Diaby in January for around £7million.

Spurs director of football Damien Comolli has pinpointed the Arsenal trio of Diaby, Denilson and Armand Traore as candidates to bolster Juande Ramos' side.

Diaby voiced his concerns about his lack of regular firstteam football after being axed from the France national squad this week.

And Gunners boss Arsene Wenger is believed to be willing to allow Diaby to leave if a club matches Arsenal's asking price - although whether he would sell a highly-rated youngster to archfoes Spurs is less clear.

Manchester City boss Sven Goran Eriksson is also monitoring Diaby's situation.

Wenger is highly unlikely to offload Brazilian star Denilson, 19, but French left-back Traore, 18, could be prised from the Emirates.

Meanwhile, Espanyol have told Tottenham that defender Dani Jarque, 24, is not for sale. Spurs are also planning a cut-price swoop for Aston Villa's Martin Laursen.

Comolli was at last week's Birmingham derby to run the rule over the Danish defender.

Laursen, who is out of contract this summer, has had injury setbacks since joining Villa three seasons ago in a £3m deal from AC Milan.

But he has overcome a careerthreatening knee problem.