Exclusive – Tottenham must stop being a selling club, insists Spurs legend
Tottenham legend Micky Hazard has told talkSPORT the club can’t continue to allow their best players to leave if they to achieve their ambitious goals.
Spurs have parted with a host of stars at the peak of their powers in recent years, with the likes of Michael Carrick, Dimitar Berbatov, Luka Modric and recently Gareth Bale all leaving White Hart Lane to enjoy prosperous careers elsewhere.
The next man on that list is widely considered to be goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who has been strongly linked with a move away from the club.
And while the France number one surprised many by signing a new five-year deal with Tottenham upon his return from the World Cup, the arrival of Michel Vorm from Swansea puts Lloris’ long-term future in doubt, with Paris Saint-Germain reportedly keen on the stopper.
Tottenham are desperate to establish themselves as Champions League regulars, having got a taste for Europe’s top table during a brilliant run to the quarter-finals in the 2010/11 campaign.
But Hazard, a key member of Spurs’ 1984 UEFA Cup-winning side, believes his former club may need to address their selling policy before they can enjoy success - starting with convincing "key man" Lloris to stay.
He told Drivetime: “Lloris has just signed a new contract, so I hope the club will keep hold of him for at least another year.
“But, as we found with Bale, if he wants to leave he will do.
“Bale behaved in the same manner, he signed a five-year deal and then we got £87million for him from Real Madrid, so if the same happens with Lloris then fine.
“But I hope he stays because he’s absolutely top draw, Lloris is the key for Spurs.
“One of the problems the club has had in recent years is that we’ve let all our best players go.
“If we had been able to keep hold of the likes of Bale, Modric and Berbatov we could have qualified for the Champions League and maybe even challenged for the Premier League.
“It’s a problem the club has to address, we can’t keep letting our top players go because they always go on to be successful somewhere else.”