Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that the club are unlikely to sign any new players before the transfer window closes today at 5pm.
Spurs have invested their energies in a potential deal for Aston Villa starlet Jack Grealish, but the Championship club have thwarted attempts to bring the attacking midfielder to North London.
As such, Tottenham look set to have the same squad for the Premier League opening weekend as the one that finished last season.
Pochettino was pragmatic when asked about the likelihood of Spurs adding new players given the proximity to the window closing.
“I think it is so difficult now cos it is only four hours until the end,” The Sun quote the Tottenham manager as saying.
“It’s difficult for people to understand Tottenham have not signed a player.
“But sometimes in football you have to be different. Sometimes it is better to keep a squad together.”
There is some merit in Pochettino’s statements – it certainly would have been a real concern had Toby Alderweireld, Danny Rose or Mousa Dembele left the club and not been suitably replaced.
However, given that the European window will remain open until the end of the month, this is still a possibility.
It would be interesting to know Pochettino’s real thoughts on the lack of Tottenham signings this summer, especially after his statements at the end of last season about it being time for the club to be brave.
However, unless Daniel Levy can pull off an unlikely masterclass as the window comes to a close, it will have been a really frustrating couple of months for the Spurs masses.