Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino said his side were not prepared to compromise on their ethos in order to make summer signings.
Spurs were the first side in Premier League history not to bring any new faces in since the summer transfer window’s inception, though they have gone on to enjoy their joint-best start to a Premier League season.
Chairman Daniel Levy told the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust that though they did try to make signings, the club stand by their ultimate lack of activity and Pochettino agrees with him.
“We tried to sign and but we could not achieve what we need or what we want,” he said. “I think one thing is to make clear; all the coaching staff, managers, always want to improve the squad.
“Of course we are always trying to improve our squad because football is dynamic. Every six months you need to do something to refresh and to wake up. That is the history in every single club.
“But if you can not achieve what you need or want, because you need to sign because you need to make people happy or act like all the clubs, I think that is not common sense.
“We showed that we are not populous…it is easy to say that we are going to sign three players and, oh look, the people are happy because we signed.
“If we don’t need the players who are available to sign then why are we going to sign (them). That is the point.”
Spurs are not as cash-rich as the teams they are competing with at the top of the league and they are also building a new stadium which costs are rising towards £1billion.
Pochettino has hinted that their new home – which is still not ready – could affect their clout in the transfer market.
“That can be one reason,” Pochettino added. “Another reason is the philosophy or the plan or how we want to behave on the market or the idea to develop.
“The pressure of Tottenham is maybe different today and the reality is different at other clubs that are competing for the same things.
“It is normal when a club like Tottenham is spending the type of money it’s spending on a new stadium, to have the possibility to spend the same money that another club…I don’t want to say names…it’s like we are in the same race but we have completely different vehicles.
“But the competition is only one. When you compete you compete. You play against 11 players from different clubs.
“The people forgot, the competition is one but you need to compare the teams with reality and circumstances.
“Sometimes you say the result was 2-1 or 3-0 or like this, but you say this team was better or need to improve or whatever.”
