Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy insists the club are not frightened by the spending power of their Premier League rivals – and stressed transfer funds are set aside should they find the right player.
New boss Jose Mourinho replaced Mauricio Pochettino at the end of November, and has guided Spurs back up into fifth place.
With the January transfer window just around the corner, Spurs fans will again be hoping for more squad investment following the 2019 summer arrivals of Ryan Sessegnon and Tanguy Ndombele.
Given the north London club are committed to a repayment financing schedule following their stadium move, Tottenham will have to remain within budget.
Levy, though, suggests the club will not just spend for the sake of it.
“The problem is it is also about squad size, English versus non-English, because we have the homegrown rule in the Premier League,” the Tottenham chairman said.
“There are lots of circumstances why sometimes you don’t do a transaction. It wasn’t a case that we didn’t have money.
“We have to get rid of this obsession in England of spending money. It just doesn’t happen overseas.”
Levy added in an interview with the London Evening Standard: “There is an amount we have allocated to spend each year in terms of net investment in the team.
“If you compare us to certain other clubs, they will have more money to spend. It doesn’t frighten us.”
In the wide-ranging interview, Levy was asked about the possibility of selling players to another Premier League side.
Christian Eriksen, the Danish midfielder, is out of contract at the end of the season and has been linked with a January move.
“We are honestly not scared to trade with our rivals,” Levy said. “My view is really simple. For a player to sign a new contract, not only have the conditions got to be right, but the player has got to want to do it.
“It is up to those players whether they want to stay at Tottenham and we’ll see.
“I don’t want to comment on individual players too much. I actually think it is unfair. Every circumstance is different.”
Levy added Mourinho’s emphasis would be to improve the current squad, rather than look for wholesale changes in January.
“He’s made it clear he is not looking for new players in January. He is happy with what he’s got and that’s why he said that,” the Spurs chairman added.
There is as yet no deal in place for naming rights at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which features a fully-retractable grass pitch and hosted two hugely successful NFL games earlier this year.
Levy indicated there was no current rush to sign up a sponsor.
“We are only going to do a naming rights deal if we get the right brand, in the right sector, on the right money. If we can’t meet those three criteria, we won’t do it,” he said.
“At the moment, we haven’t found a company that meets all three criteria. We are not really close to anything on that at the moment.”
Following the rave reviews from the NFL teams who played at the N17 venue, it has been suggested Spurs could offer a London-based franchise a permanent home.
Levy said: “They (NFL) have made no decision on whether that is going to happen now or in the future. All I know is we have a fully compliant NFL stadium within our own stadium.
“We would love them to play more games in London and the two played at our stadium were incredibly successful.
“We very much hope, if not a team, that we will have more games. Our door is very much open.”
