Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)

..but Spurs chief Levy insists: We won’t be forced to sell off our crown jewels

- BY ADRIAN KAJUMBA

DANIEL LEVY insists Tottenham won’t be forced to sell any of the stars they want to keep before next season.

The club’s chairman is confident Spurs will be able to hold on to all of their main men, heading into their first campaign at a brand new stadium next term.

Levy (right) said: “I am 100 per cent confident that every player we want to keep, I can assure you will be playing for

Tottenham

Hotspur next season.”

His defiant message means the likes of talisman Harry

Kane, midfielder Dele Alli and defender Toby Alderweire­ld, who all have admirers, will be staying put. Spurs are preparing new contract offers for Kane and Alli, and also hoping to tie down Alderweire­ld to an extended deal. The Belgium defender is currently tied to Spurs until 2019, with an option to extend his deal for a further year.

But his contract also contains a £25million release clause, which becomes active in 2019. The north Londoners want him to sign a new deal, which would overwrite that escape option. But whether Danny Rose fits into the category of player Spurs want to keep remains to be seen.

He has lost his place as regular left-back, following a knee injury, and also after questionin­g the club’s wage structure and transfer policy last summer.

Manchester United are keen to exploit the situation by making a move for the £50m England defender, while Spurs have earmarked Fulham’s teenage sensation Ryan Sessegnon as a replacemen­t for Rose.

Spurs have indicated they are willing to pay £25m for 17-year-old Sessegnon but, for now, Fulham insist he is not for sale.

They are also after a wide attacker, a long-term replacemen­t for Mousa Dembele, and a young striker, having made enquiries about Hamburg wonderkid Jann-fiete Arp, 18.

Asked if there will be arrivals at Spurs this month, Levy said:

“Mauricio’s strategy has always been, if an opportunit­y arises that he thinks can improve the squad, then we are more than willing to look at it.

“But January is always a very difficult window.”

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