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Harry Redknapp has stoked the fires ahead of their Champions League shootout by claiming that he would not swap any of his Spurs players for the stars of Manchester City.

The two sides go head-to-head at Eastlands on Wednesday night in a match that is likely to decide which of the two sides grabs the final qualification spot for Europe's top club competition

Spurs know that a win would guarantee they secure fourth spot in the Barclays Premier League - a massive achievement given they would have beaten mega-rich City and Liverpool.

And Redknapp has raised the temperature ahead of the crunch showdown by claiming he would rather keep all of his current players than swap them for any of City's.

The Spurs boss told ESPN Soccernet: 'We have Aaron Lennon coming back, and what a player he is, with his pace. Even behind him, there is Gareth Bale, who has come on in such leaps and bounds and has become an attacking force.

'I wouldn't swap our players for any of theirs. We have a terrific group of players, and that's a nice position to be in.'

Redknapp has also questioned the value of Carlos Tevez, saying he agrees with Sir Alex Ferguson that the former Manchester United striker was over-priced.

He added: 'There is only one point in it in for the race for the title, and that's the fine dividing lines these days and, let's face it, he has achieved that without Cristiano Ronaldo or Tevez.

'To be fair to Sir Alex, he probably thought that £45million - or whatever the true cost for Tevez was - was a bit much, plus his wages of £180,000-a-week, when he wasn't even a regular in the United team last season, spending most of his time coming off the bench.

'Sir Alex has spent £30m on Berbatov and he had Rooney and, at the start of the season, he would have thought that was enough, and so would most people.'

dailymail.co.uk

Goaters 103 wrote:
Do our talking on the pitch.

john@staustell wrote:One thing about Tevez is he is a determined little bugger who values himself very highly. Comments like Twitchy's have a habit of coming back and biting people on the arse.

Hopefully Mancini now has no need to motivate El Apache as he bangs in a hat trick tomorrow!

Ted Hughes wrote:He just said he wouldn't SWAP their players for ours.

Doesn't mean he won't sell half his players to various clubs through bent agents, cop for half their cut, then try to pick off all the players we don't want & sign them through bent agents & cop for half their cut.

Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:He just said he wouldn't SWAP their players for ours.

Doesn't mean he won't sell half his players to various clubs through bent agents, cop for half their cut, then try to pick off all the players we don't want & sign them through bent agents & cop for half their cut.

Yeah, swap deals aren't to 'Arry's liking. No chance to take the usual slice out of the deal.

Oh, and fair enough, I wouldn't take any Spurs players either.

Harry Redknapp admits he has some regrets about failing to sign Patrick Vieira from Inter Milan and believes the fact he was prepared to play for Arsenal's arch-rivals shows "the character of the man".


Harry Redknapp says Patrick Vieira was happy to join Spurs in January
Vieira, who became a legend at Arsenal after almost a decade at the club, came close to a switch to Tottenham last summer, but the move fell through when the midfielder decided to stay in Italy.

When he opted to move on in January, he signed for Manchester City, and he is expected to be in the squad when Tottenham head to Eastlands on Wednesday in a match that could determine which team secures the final Champions League spot.

Redknapp says he decided against signing the 33-year-old in January because he was happy with his midfield options but he still feels regret for having missed out on a "top, top player".

Redknapp told Soccernet: "Patrick was very interested in joining us last summer and, yes, I spoke to him at great length about a move to White Hart Lane.

"Eventually he decided he wanted to stay at Inter, so we never actually got to the nitty-gritty of a deal as such, yet there was a big chance it would have happened as he seemed to want to play for Spurs.

"That would have been some bold move for someone like him who was such a legend at Arsenal. It would have also been a bold move for us! He fancied the move, even though he was such an Arsenal legend, and that shows the character of the man - it shows he has b******* that he was prepared to do that.

"He actually said to me, 'I'd love to come to play for a club like Tottenham', but in the end he decided to stay with Inter.

"Then in January, I spoke to him again, when he wanted to come back to English football. He had then made up his mind to leave Inter and, although I could have taken him in that last transfer window, we had sorted out our midfield and I decided not to move for him.

"In many ways, I wish I had signed him as he is a great player, a top, top player, but we felt we didn't need him by the time he had got round to wanting to sign for us!