Daniel Levy says Tottenham transfer critics have no grasp of difficult market

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy says he reads every email from supporters but insists his critics have "no comprehension" of how hard it is to complete a transfer.

Levy's pragmatic approach in the transfer market, particularly in comparison to some of the club's top-six rivals, polarises fans and he is often accused of putting the business side of the club ahead of success on the pitch.

In summer 2018, Spurs became the first Premier League club since the introduction of transfer windows not to make a single summer signing but they broke their transfer record to sign Tanguy Ndombele last year and have already signed three players this off-season.

Speaking in January on the latest instalments of Amazon Prime's documentary, All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur, which are released on Monday, Levy insisted it is a huge challenge to sign players to improve Tottenham's squad.

"I get these emails from fans and I do read them all," Levy said. "When you're at a certain level the market for better quality it's like a pyramid. There are fewer players that are better. We all have our dream teams but often that's not reality.

"We have a budget and putting aside the money there may be a player we all like but unless you've got a club that wants to sell or are willing to sell, you've got the agent who wants to do business and a player who wants to come here. There's a lot of things that have to come together.

"I think fans generally have no comprehension of how hard it is to physically do a transfer."

He added: "I get very frustrated if we get to the end of a transfer window and the team is not in a better place than when we started."

A serious hamstring injury for Harry Kane on New Year's Day left Spurs in the market for a striker but, in footage of a board meeting in early January, Levy reveals manager Jose Mourinho "wants a very particularly style of striker".

He continues: "And they're very, very limited. We have one or two ideas that we're working on. There's lots of bits and pieces going on all over the place. We might end up spending money, we may not. We may end up doing a purchase, we may end up doing a number of loans. It's like this [juggles hands].

"As we know the activity always happens in the last week of the window."

Last January, Spurs subsequently signed Gedson Fernandes on an 18-month loan from Benfica, with an option to buy for around €50million, and PSV Eindhoven winger Steven Bergwijn for roughly £25m.

Also in the documentary, Steve Hitchen, the club's former head of recruitment who has recently been promoted to technical performance director, reveals he hates the January transfer window but says he knows the club is facing a significant rebuild.

"January window is the worst window," Hitchen says. "It's a window of opportunity. It's a window of panic. It's never a window to plan. I hate it.

"I work on the metrics of what Jose gives us for what a Jose player is in each position, working on the parameters of finance that the club gives to us.

"Tottenham is in a very fortunate position now where the profile of the club has increased so much and it's nice to know that the players you can attract now is miles away from where they were five years ago.

"The club has been in a position for probably 12 months – taking away the [run to the final of the] Champions League – where we've known we've had to rebuild the team. We just feel this is a time for some players to move on and to bring some new blood in."

Read more

Rose blasts s*** team-mates in Mourinho showdown on Tottenham doc