Spurs look to the future

Wednesday, 06/07/2011

by James Willis, Shoot's Tottenham blogger

Following encouraging news that Spurs youngsters Danny Rose and Kyle Walker have signed contract extensions until 2015 and 2016 respectively, the club's fans can finally sit back and be pleased with what the club has been doing this summer.

No strikers have been bought in yet, and none of the other rumoured signings have been bought either, but clearly something is going on behind the scenes.

Chairman Daniel Levy has insisted on players being sold before any more are brought in, which is very understandable given Tottenham's current wage structure. That would mean offloading some of the fringe players who have struggled for game time, such as David Bentley and Robbie Keane, before being able to bring in players like Diego Forlan and Leandro Damiao.

The new contracts offered to Kyle Walker and Danny Rose also represent a step forward in Tottenham finally looking to their long-term future. After his performances for Aston Villa earned him an England squad call-up last term, Walker is expected to jump ahead of both Vedran Corluka and Alan Hutton as Tottenham's first choice right back next season.

The youngsters may not quite be world-beaters at their age, but it's definitely a good step in the right direction for the club.

Having already offloaded Jamie O'Hara for £5m to Wolves, rumours have been floating around about exits for more of the fringe players, especially with the wealth of QPR and their need for experienced Premier League players.

The biggest story so far though is that of Luka Modric. If Tottenham manage to sell fringe players soon enough, then Redknapp may have enough time to push the boat out a bit and secure a marquee signing, the type that would encourage Modric to stay at White Hart Lane.

With his contract still in action for five more years, it all comes down to Tottenham as to whether they want to sell Modric or not. The player's only other option to leave could be to buy out his own contract.

Roman Pavlyuchenko has faith, though, that Tottenham can bounce back to the top four of the Premier League, and not by overtaking previous competitors Manchester City. The Russian striker believes Tottenham now have the ability and the ambition to finally overtake Arsenal to grab that final valued Champions League position. With their North London rivals current transfer situation, the fight for those positions looks set to be even tighter than ever.

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