HARRY REDKNAPP has admitted he would be able to add “four players and have a better team” if the club sanctioned the sale of Luka Modric to Chelsea. While Tottenham Hotspur are likely to prove resistant to any attempt to include players as makeweights in any deal for the Croatia midfielder, the manager has tempered his desire to retain Modric by bemoaning the lack of incoming transfers at White Hart Lane this summer.
Talks continue with Manchester City aimed at securing Emmanuel Adebayor on loan, but the Tottenham manager has warned that the likes of Rafael van der Vaart and Gareth Bale will require evidence of the club’s continued ambition if they are to remain content.
Redknapp, whose side play their first competitive game of the season at Hearts tonight, in the Europa League play-offs, wants to keep Modric though his outlook is increasingly tinged with realism.
“We all love our club, but if someone comes along who offers to treble your wages and could win the Champions League, then it’s not easy,” he said.
“He’s had his head turned. I want to see him here at the start of the year, but if he goes then you get three or four players in. They’re your options: get the money and get four players and, in all honesty, have a better team, or keep Luka, who is fantastic.”
The Spurs chairman, Daniel Levy, who is braced to receive a third offer from Chelsea having rejected bids of €25 million and €31m for the playmaker, remains committed to keeping the 25-year-old, with Redknapp adding: “I don’t see him going.”
Yet the manager revealed an increased sense of urgency at White Hart Lane after a summer of frustration in the market, both in terms of moving fringe players out of the club and bringing in new blood. Only Brad Friedel, on a free transfer from Aston Villa, has been added, with interest in Lassana Diarra, Giuseppe Rossi, Fernando Llorente, Scott Parker and Bryan Ruiz having, as yet, come to nothing.
The club’s reluctance to break their wage structure has stifled their chances with some but as rivals spend heavily, prospects of a swift return to the Champions League appear in jeopardy. “We need to bring a bit of quality in,” Redknapp said.
“People like Luka Modric are looking to see what happens. Van der Vaart and Bale are looking to see if we are going to improve and bring a couple of quality players in. We know we have to improve.
“We finished two points above Liverpool last year and they’ve improved. They’re looking to close that gap and if you spend that money there is every chance you will.
“We know we have to improve to stay in front of them, let alone stay with the teams in front of us. We’re looking to shift players, but it’s not been easy creating space and generating money.”
Tottenham’s options are stripped at present by injuries to key personnel, with Modric, Tom Huddlestone, Jermaine Jenas, Sandro, Wilson Palacios, Steven Pienaar and William Gallas all absent tonight through injury, leaving Jake Livermore as the only fit central midfielder. Yet Redknapp is hopeful that Adebayor, a player disliked by Spurs’ fans given his Arsenal connections, will be signed on loan in time to feature in Monday’s daunting game at Manchester United. Even so, City would have to pay a large proportion of the player’s salary.
“Arsenal fans hate him so Tottenham fans will love him,” Redknapp said. “He’s got an advantage by upsetting them. He’ll be a hero. If he comes and his head’s on, he can be fantastic. It’s a loan deal anyway, so you can’t go wrong. He was fantastic against us for Real Madrid; we couldn’t handle him. If he’s at it and really wants to play, then he could be sensational.
“He rang me after I stuck up for him. I said he shouldn’t have run to the fans, but they were giving him almighty abuse all game.
“What are you supposed to do? You stick it up them, which is what he did. It was a bit over the top but I stuck up for him and he rang me to say he appreciated it.
“I’m sure I’ll get on well with him. When he was at it at Arsenal, he was almost unplayable.
“That’s what we want him to do here.”
Guardian Service
