Ange Postecoglou says he doesn’t want players who are only interested in playing in the Champions League, adding that “I’m looking for a certain type of character”.
The Tottenham Hotspur head coach has stressed repeatedly in the last few weeks that he is not fixated on Champions League qualification, arguing that it’s more important that he continues to see growth in the team between now and the end of the campaign.
When it was put to him on Friday that some players would decide on their next club based on whether they are in the Champions League, Postecoglou said: “I don’t want those players.”
Pushed on why, he answered: “Because they don’t want to come to Tottenham… they want to go to a Champions League club. I signed Micky van de Ven this year — he’s not a bad player is he? And we were in the Champions League? No. I don’t want those players. That’s a beautiful discussion for me to have.
“That’s one of the discussions I have: Why do you want to come to Tottenham? Because if you want Champions League football and that’s all you want, you don’t want to come to Tottenham; you just want to go to a Champions League club.
“I want people to come to Tottenham who know this club, know the challenge we’ve got — and we do have a challenge, we’re different to other clubs in that we haven’t had success for a while — so I’m looking for a certain type of character. One that’s going to say: ‘You know what, they’re not in the Champions League but if I win something with them, that could mean something for my career and to me. So I’m up for that fight’.”
Postecoglou added of players desperate for Champions League football: “There’s nothing wrong with having that ambition, if somebody wants to come to this club because of the Champions League that’s great, but if that’s going to be the determining factor then probably you are not going to fit in to what I want to do right now.”
Spurs are currently two points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa but have a game in hand. They host Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
