Jose Mourinho has admitted that he expects Tottenham Hotspur to be active in the transfer market this summer, although he did hint that the club will not be spending big sums of money.
Multiple reports over the past couple of months have indicated that the Lilywhites do not have much of a transfer kitty this summer and will be prioritising loan deals and free transfers (Mirror and Telegraph).
Reports indicate Mourinho has been told by Daniel Levy that he has to be willing to sell some of Spurs’ senior stars if he wants a major rebuild this summer (Football Insider).
In light of Chelsea completing a deal to sign Timo Werner from RB Leipzig, the Spurs head coach admitted that Spurs will not make similarly big-money moves.
When asked about the Blues acquisition of Werner, Mourinho told Football.London: “First of all, it’s not something that is going to happen in every club.
“Every club is a club, every club has its own situation and philosophy and approach. I’m not expecting, of course, us to be in a position of great spending, I’m not expecting that.
“I’m expecting my club to be very balanced and very honest in that kind of approach.
MORE SPURS STORIES
“We know that we are going to be in the same league, in the same world, as clubs that are going to do completely different to us.
“You have now examples already of clubs investing and making important movements in the market and we are still nine matches away from the end of the season, but I think we are going always to be very balanced which is what Tottenham normally is.”
However, the 57-year-old did admit that the North Londoners will be looking to make one or two important moves when the transfer market reopens.
He added: “Would I expect us not to do anything and to stay exactly with the same squad that we have in this moment? My answer is no.
“I expect us to do some little important things and if we do our little important things and we improve in two, three positions that we need to improve in the squad, I am completely open to the challenge, I am completely supportive to the board, to the owners and let’s go for it.
“But in this moment I am not even thinking about that because I am focused on these nine matches.”
The Tottenham boss also insisted that the Lilywhites are not bothered by the business being done by their direct rivals and are focussed on what they need to do to improve the squad.
Speaking about his former clubs’ recent acquisitions, he said: “I don’t know if Tottenham was on the Fernandes situation. I cannot say that.
“I cannot confirm, I cannot deny but it’s obvious for us that there are a certain level of options that are not for us.
“We have to admit that. But that’s a normal situation. So United bought Fernandes, Chelsea’s buying Ziyech and Werner, they can do what they want.
“It’s not our problem. We focus on ourselves. We are going to improve our squad in the way we can do it. No problem.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Reading between the lines, it does sound like we have identified targets who can help improve the squad without costing a fortune, and those are the kind of players we will be going for this summer. I would be surprised if we spend upwards of £20-30m on any player.
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
