Danny Rose has slammed Tottenham's lack of summer signings and fears they could fall behind their Premier League rivals in 2017-18.
Mauricio Pochettino's side are the only club not to bring in any new faces in the summer transfer window, and Rose is envious of the likes of Manchester City and Manchester United, with the local rivals having spent around £400 million between them.
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And the England international, who has hinted at leaving north London amid reported interest from United and Chelsea, believes the club need to add some big names to the squad if they are to maintain a challenge for the Premier League title.
"I am not saying buy ten players, I’d love to see two or three - and not players you have to Google and say, ‘Who’s that?’ I mean well-known players," he told The Sun .
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"Under Harry Redknapp we signed Rafa van der Vaart. It was like, ‘Wow, how did he do that?’ I mean signings like that are what we need - that’s just my opinion.
“There are three weeks to go until the window shuts and you look at Man City and think, ‘If the window shut now they would be happy with the business they have done’.
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"Man United, more or less, are there - although I hear [Jose] Mourinho may want one or two more players - but I am sure he’d be happy with his squad.
“As a Tottenham player I’d love to see more signings. It would lift me seeing a top player come through the door.
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“I’ve seen a couple of players previously saying, ‘We don’t need a top signing or signings’. But I am sorry, I am not singing off the same hymn-sheet on that one.
"I think we do need one or two top signings to strengthen the squad. I’m just not buying the idea that we don’t need anyone.
"I know it was only pre-season but I watched the game against Man City and I was just in awe of City.
“They only had Kyle Walker, Danilo and the goalkeeper Ederson out of the players they’ve just bought.
"Speaking to some lads when they got back, they’re saying: ‘City are taking off £200 million and then they are bringing on [Sergio] Aguero, [Yaya] Toure and [Leroy]Sane’. That just speaks volumes to me.
“Anyone who says we don’t need any signings, I’m not buying into that."
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Rose is closing in on a return to training after recovering from a knee injury that has ruled him out since January as Spurs prepare to face newly-promoted Newcastle on Sunday.
And the 27-year-old believes there is not enough squad depth at Tottenham to improve on their second-placed finish and group stage exit from the Champions League from 2016-17.
“As a starting XI we have one of the best in the league, without a shadow of a doubt, but after that . . .
“We played Chelsea in the Cup semi - [Diego] Costa, [Eden] Hazard and [Gary] Cahill didn’t play.
“After 60 minutes, [Antonio] Conte has brought on [Cesc] Fabregas, Hazard and Costa and they’ve changed the match.
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“I thought to myself, ‘Could we ever afford to play against a top team and afford to have Harry Kane, Dele Alli and a top centre-back not playing?’
“No disrespect to anyone but I don’t think we could do that and Chelsea did that to us. They’re still in the game, they bring on Costa, Hazard and Fabregas and they won. I definitely feel we need to bolster the squad.
“Under Harry [Redknapp], there were two Premier League-class players for every position. We are finishing even higher under Mauricio but we don’t have that depth now.
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“The standard of training when there’s that much quality is amazing. I have competition for my place but why shouldn’t everyone have competition for their places?
“Top-class competition where, if you have two average games, you might lose your place. I have that and I don’t see why anyone else shouldn’t.
“I want world-class players to come through the front door to make you fight for your place.”