• Hammers reject £7m offer from local rivals
• David Sullivan vows to keep star midfielder

Scott Parker would like to consider Tottenham Hotspur’s proposal to take him across London to White Hart Lane and has been left frustrated at West Ham United’s refusal to countenance the deal.

Spurs have had a £7m offer rejected out of hand by the West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan, who has said the midfielder is not for sale and that Parker is to be offered a lucrative new five-year contract. The midfielder has three years to run on his current deal.

But Parker is tempted by what would be a hugely contentious switch – there is

• O’Hara has two fractures of the lower spine
• Midfielder still hopes to play for Portsmouth at Wembley

Jamie O’Hara has a big decision to make as a stress fracture in his back threatens to rule him out of Portsmouth’s FA Cup final date with Chelsea at Wembley on Saturday.

The on-loan Tottenham Hotspur midfielder, who was ineligible for the semi-final win over his parent club, needed a painkilling injection to take part in the Premier League loss at Everton yesterday.

The 23-year-old, however, does not want to risk either the team’s chances or his own long-term health.

“I have got two fractures on the lower part of my spine and if it was any other time of the season, it is eight weeks out,” he said. “After this I will be out for a couple of months, and then it will just be rest because it is a stress fracture.

“We have had a scan already, and Spurs are looking towards a longer-term injury. Speaking to the doctors, it can be a serious one if you keep playing on it, and you could be looking at a year out.

“I have got to be careful what I do, but with the injections, the doctors said one more game would not be a problem.

“I would love to play, but it has come to the point now where I am really struggling and can’t do anything, which is the most frustrating thing. I can get around, but it is not how you want to be going into a Cup final.”

O’Hara added: “I have been speaking to Spurs and they are not wanting to stop me in any way, but are looking at it longer-term going back. I am going to miss some of pre-season, and will be trying to get myself right for the start.”

O’Hara collected a clean sweep of Portsmouth’s player of the season awards but does not want to see his last appearance made for all the wrong reasons.

“I have had a great season, winning all those awards, and I would not want to go into such a massive game for the club half-fit,” he said. “On a personal basis, it is great playing at Wembley and would be an occasion, but I don’t want to kill myself long-term. The final decision will be mine with the manager. We will have to sit down at the end of the week and decide what we want to do.”

PortsmouthTottenham HotspurFA Cupguardian.co.uk

No one wants to leave the club while the manager’s thoughts have turned to the issue of new signings

When Harry Redknapp was negotiating his contract to join Tottenham Hotspur, the issue of a bonus linked to qualification for the Champions League was mooted. It was October 2008 and Spurs were rooted to the foot of the Premier League table. The chairman, Daniel Levy, was preoccupied with the apocalyptic threat of relegation and he gave his blessing to a large, seven-figure pay-out in the event of Redknapp guiding the club to the promised land. It was as much an after-thought as anything else. Levy would never have to pay it. No man in his position ever has.

Lastnight, after Redknapp’s attacking gusto had brought glorious reward at Manchester City and Levy could savour the fulfilment of a dream, he might have permitted himself a wry smile. Hardly any of the Tottenham players were on Champions League bonuses. Trust Harry to come up smelling of roses.

Amid the giddy euphoria, the squad were also in something of a state of shock. Upon their return to London, many of the players sat up into the small hours, buzzing with the sense of achievement but struggling to comprehend it. They would have signed up for the draw at City to leave them needing victory at Burnley on the final day. Going back three weeks, ahead of the fixtures against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United, which followed the heartbreak of the FA Cup semi-final loss to Portsmouth, there was hope rather than genuine expectation that they could gate-crash the top four. Yet there they were, after their third thrilling Premier League performance in five games and a 10th victory in 11, considering life as Champions League players; breathlessly ahead of schedule.

There is a wariness, there has to be, what with Everton’s experience in 2005. Having finished fourth, the Merseyside club pulled Villarreal in the qualifying round and saw the Champions League adventure end before it had properly started. In Uefa’s rejigged qualifying format, which kicked in this season, there would usually be a greater chance that England’s fourth entrant to the competition would draw a team from one of Europe’s biggest leagues, but Spurs are much better placed than Manchester City, Aston Villa or Everton would have been.

The draw for what is now called the play-off in the non-champions qualifying path is seeded on performance in European competition over the previous five seasons. Tottenham did not make Europe this time out or in 2005-06 but they played in the Uefa Cup in the intervening three seasons, reaching the quarter-final, the last 16 and the last 32. It appears likely that their record will mean they are favoured as seeds, in a draw which will contain the fourth-placed finishers from the Spanish and Italian leagues and third place from France and Germany. In the current standings, those teams would be Sevilla, Sampdoria, Auxerre and Werder Bremen. Into the mix will go the runners-up from other leagues, including the Netherlands. What price Tottenham to face Martin Jol’s Ajax?

Redknapp’s team will render such talk null and void if they were to win at Burnley and Arsenal lose at home to Fulham on Sunday. Tottenham would then finish third and advance directly into the Champions League group stage. Fulham, however, have the Europa League final next Wednesday and the manager Roy Hodgson is unlikely to play his strongest team at the Emirates.

Levy will not move his club on to a Champions League financial footing, in terms of player recruitment, until a coveted place in the group phase has been secured. Yet Redknapp’s thoughts have inevitably begun to turn to the issue of new signings with Chelsea’s Joe Cole, who could be the summer’s most attractive free agent, Michael Carrick of Manchester United and City’s Craig Bellamy on his wish-list. Much was read into Bellamy’s high five with Redknapp after yesterdays game. Lassana Diarra of Real Madrid is also of interest, as is Ajax’s Luis Suárez. Sandro, the Brazil midfielder, has already been added from Internacional.

One of the by-products, though, of Tottenham’s success is that nobody wants to leave. Ambitions have been sated. Luka Modric, for example, is determined to have a crack at the Champions League with Tottenham, in the face of reported interest from United.

Redknapp remained icy cool at the moment of triumph in Manchester and not only because of the barrel of water that was dumped over his head by David Bentley and the players. Through his laid-back brand of man-management and tactical acumen, he has turned fantasy into reality to dispel the notion that Tottenham are a club that will always find a way to fall short.

He has revived the likes of Heurelho Gomes, Gareth Bale and Modric, he has closed the gap on Arsenal and has given the club a future of tantalising possibility. The new training ground and stadium have been signed off. So many of the players will only get better.

Redknapp deserves the imminent presentation of a new contract. Levy will study the full implications of the small print.

Harry RedknappTottenham HotspurChampions LeagueDavid Hytnerguardian.co.uk