Tottenham manager Thomas Frank has stressed that the club will only pursue players who are fully committed to their project, Afrosport reports.
His comments follow reports that Spurs have lost the race to land Crystal Palace midfielder Eberechi Eze, who is close to completing a £67.5 million move to city rivals Arsenal.
Tottenham had been in pole position to secure the 27-year-old earlier in the week, but the situation shifted on Wednesday, with the Gunners striking an agreement with Palace for the England international.
Eze, initially expected to feature in Palace’s UEFA Conference League clash with Fredrikstad on Thursday, was left out of the squad ahead of his anticipated return to boyhood club Arsenal.
It is Spurs’ second setback of the transfer window after Nottingham Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White chose to sign a contract extension, despite reports suggesting Tottenham had triggered a release clause in his previous deal.
“There’s been a lot of rumours – and a lot of times there’s nothing in it,” Frank told reporters. “There must be someone out there who thinks it’s good fun to put the rumours out. There have been a lot of links and there will continue to be.
“To be very general, I don’t want any players who don’t want to come to the club. If they don’t want to come here and wear this fantastic badge, then we don’t want them here. That’s very clear, and I imagine the fans feel exactly the same.”
Despite the setbacks, the former Brentford boss expressed confidence that Spurs will strengthen before the transfer window closes on 1 September.
“I’m confident we will sign another player before the end of the window,” he added. “In general, any club wants to sign players as early as possible, but if it was that easy, everyone would do it.
“I’m a positive guy; I’m not that fearful. I believe something will happen. I know the club is asking extremely hard, and unfortunately, we can’t go in Waitrose for five minutes and buy two very good players. It’s a bit more complicated than that.
“I see the club is working hard – Daniel, Vinay and Johan – we’re all on board in terms of seeing how we can improve.”
Tottenham, buoyed by their 3-0 win over Burnley on opening weekend, now turn their focus to Saturday’s blockbuster trip to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
