Manchester United will allow £25million teenager Ryan Sessegnon to return to Fulham for the remainder of the season if they win the chase to sign him in January.
United are battling Spurs for 17-year-old Sessegnon who only missed out on England's under-17s World Cup win this year because Fulham needed him for their first-team.
The Old Trafford club hope the loan-back proposal – something they did with Wilfried Zaha and Crystal Palace in 2013 – will give them the advantage.
Sessegnon is regarded along with Manchester City's Phil Foden as the most exciting player of his generation and has already scored nine senior goals, unprecedented for a left-back who doesn't turn 18 until May.