Cardiff emerge as frontrunners in race for Spurs youngster who was heavily fancied to join Portsmouth this summer

That’s following a report by Walesonline which claims Championship Cardiff are pursuing a permanent switch for the 20-year-old, who looks set to cut his ties with Premier League Spurs before the end of the month.

The 6ft 6in front man emerged has a top target for the Blues at the beginning of the summer, with the Fratton Park club weighing up a £300,000 bid for the former Northampton and Cheltenham loanee.

But a loan move for Joe Pigott and the permanent purchase Colby Bishop saw that interest cool.

Meanwhile, Pompey’s capture of Etete’s Tottenham team-mate Dane Scarlett on a temporary deal also affectively killed off any chance of another raid on north London.

With three strikers now on board, a winger tops head coach Danny Cowley’s wanted list over the final weeks of the transfer window.

That leaves the list of clubs at Championship level keen on Etete with one less competitor to worry about.

And it seems Cardiff are keen to steal a march on their remaining rivals as they look to tie up a deal for the striker who has just one year remaining on his current Spurs deal.

He is believed to be one of two striker arrivals the Bluebirds are currently working on, with the other expected to be an experienced front man on a loan deal.

Cardiff boss Steve Morison has so far made 13 signings this summer – but a potential permanent move for Etete would represent the first with a fee involved.

Etete is yet to feature for the Tottenham first team after arriving from Notts County as a 17-year-old in 2019.

Blues new-boy and England under-19 international Scarlett has made that breakthrough, however.

Prior to his loan move to Fratton Park, the 18-year-old had featured 10 times for the Tottenham senior team – eight of which came last season as the highly-rated young forward featured in the Premier League, FA Cup and Europa Conference League.