Spurs boss Jose Mourinho was keen on bringing in a back-up striker for Harry Kane over the window and after talks over Napoli’s Arkadiusz Milik, the Tottenham boss landed Brazilian Carlos Vinicius on a season-long loan from Portuguese outfit Benfica.
However, Tottenham wanted former Celtic striker Dembele to come in through the door in north London and made an attempt.
They failed to make a headway though and, according to French daily Le Progres, saw their attempts to sign Dembele rebuffed.
The financial aspects of the bid have not been revealed.
Lyon consider Dembele to be a key man and may have been unwilling to let him go late into the window due to the limited time available to sign a replacement.
Dembele has so far made six appearances in Ligue 1 for Lyon this season, but is yet to find the back of the net.
Lyon have the 24-year-old striker under contract for a further three years and he is just six goals shy of hitting the 50-goal mark for the club; he scored 51 times in 94 games at Celtic.
