Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur have joined the transfer race for Swiss midfield ace Valon Behrami.

The defensive midfielder, who currently plays for Napoli in Serie A, is a former West Ham United player and has caught the attention of several European clubs with his performances for the club last season as well as during Switzerland’s World Cup matches.

Spurs will face stiff competition for the 29 year old from Inter Milan who have earmarked the Swiss international as the man to add the bite to their midfield that has been lacking and the Italian media reports talks have already begun between the two Italian clubs.

Behrami played 21 matches for Napoli during the 2013/14 season of Serie A. the Swiss ace spent three seasons in an ill fated spell at West Ham United between 2008 and 2011, where he failed to nail down a first team spot before being moved on.

He scored just four goals during his 58 game spell at West Ham United following his £ 5 million move from Lazio.

However, he has reestablished himself as a steely defensive midfielder in Italy and Tottenham Hotspur want to bring the player back to the Premier League with Sandro expected to leave the club this summer, leaving Brazilian international Paulinho as their only defensive midfield option.

If Behrami does join Spurs, he would add to a growing list of former Spurs players to make the move to their arch rivals, including Jermain Defoe, Freddie Kanoute and Michael Carrick at the turn of the century.

Behrami has played both group matches for Switzerland in Brazil making a total of six tackles as well as 81 passes and Tottenham Hotspur are hopeful the lure of a return to the English game will clinch the deal in their favor this summer.

Former Chelsea manager Ruud Gullit has revealed that Tottenham boss Tim Sherwood turned down the opportunity to sign Luis Suarez when he was a scout at the club. Sherwood was one of the scouts at Tottenham during the regime of Harry Redknapp. He was appointed as the new manager of the club on an 18 month deal during the middle of the season after poor run of results forced the club to sack manager Andre Villas-Boas. Sherwood will be coming up against a Suarez on Sunday and there is every chance that he will rue his mistake not to sign the player.

Suarez was a young and upcoming name and Ajax. Gullit says that Sherwood visited along with a number of colleagues in the hope of signing him. However, after watching a couple of matches, Sherwood decided to turn down to opportunity. Gullit has revealed that he persuaded Sherwood to take Suarez with his eyes closed because the Uruguay star was set for greatness. The Ajax striker moved to Liverpool in 2011 and he has been one of the best players in the world since then. The 27-year-old has already scored 29 league goals and is on course to setting a new record.

Tottenham, meanwhile, could have very top four aspirations ended if they lose to Liverpool on Sunday.

“They came to watch him. I met Sherwood together with Les Ferdinand, they were Harry Redknapp’s assistants at the time and were also his scouts. They asked me all kinds of questions about Suarez, so I just point blank said: “You have to snap him up, without any hesitation, in a heartbeat.” Well, we’re not sure,” they said whilst they actually watched him play. That’s a huge mistake, if you ask me. Afterwards they said to me: “Well, we might have got it wrong.”’ said Gullit.