Harry Redknapp has denied Tottenham have agreed a £32m deal with Spanish giants Barcelona for Gareth Bale.
Reports in the Spanish media on Friday suggested the Catalan side were set to pay 40m euros for the Welsh winger, 22.
“I wouldn’t think there’s a slightest bit of truth in that,” said Redknapp. “Not a chance I wouldn’t have thought.”
The Spurs boss insists the north London club want to keep their best players in order to qualify for the Champions League on a regular basis.
“If you don’t then where are you going?” said the 65-year-old. “You can forget about Champions League football in the future if you don’t keep your best players and add to them, never mind selling them off.”
Tottenham will secure a top-four finish by beating Fulham at White Hart Lane in their final game of the Premier League season on Sunday.
Redknapp’s side must match fifth-placed Newcastle’s result at Everton and could still finish third above neighbours Arsenal depending on the outcome of the Gunners’ trip to West Brom.
“We’ve got to try and get a win ourselves – that’s all we can do,” said Redknapp, who added he would not be keeping track of Sunday’s other scores.
“If we win we’re definitely going to finish fourth at least, so we’ve got to try and win a difficult game. A draw is no good to us.
“We’ve just got to concentrate on picking up three points. Let’s wait and see – it all depends on Sunday.”
But Spurs could still miss out on a place in Europe’s elite competition if they finish fourth and Chelsea beat Bayern Munich in this year’s Champions League final on 19 May.
Redknapp said he would be cheering on the German side in the Munich showpiece should Spurs fail to overhaul Arsenal this weekend.
“You’d be a liar if you said otherwise,” he conceded. “If we finish third I’ll become an even bigger Chelsea fan.”
BBC Sport
