Jose Mourinho refuses to sign Tottenham transfer targets who are ‘afraid’ to compete with Harry Kane
Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho refuses to sign a striker who is scared to compete with Harry Kane.
Mourinho is confident his club will land a new frontman as he desperately tries to bolster his attacking line.
Spurs were stung last season when they could not bring in cover for Kane, who suffered a serious hamstring injury, and their problems intensified when Son Heung-min also got injured.
One of the narratives around their lack of ability to sign a striker in recent years is that no prospective arrival will be willing to sit on the bench and watch Kane play.
But Mourinho says that is not a mindset he is willing to entertain.
"The point is not me convincing the striker, it's the striker convincing me," the Portuguese said. "And if the striker is afraid to come to Tottenham and the striker is afraid of competition then I don't want the striker.
"So it's not for me to convince him, it's for him to convince me. If he says I don't want to go because I don't want to be in a squad where we have Harry Kane and Sonny, (Erik) Lamela, Lucas (Moura), I don't want to go to that squad then goodbye.
"If you change the direction from the striker position to midfield - we have (Harry) Winks, (Moussa) Sissoko, (Tanguy) Ndombele ... (Summer signing Pierre-Emile) Hojbjerg didn't ask me, 'Am I back-up or I am I going there to play?' It's up to you, mate.
"Players decide who plays, it's not me. It's players who decide who plays.
"So a striker to come here... I know that we have the best striker in this country, there is no doubts about it, but the striker that comes here has to come with his own ambitions.
"If he doesn't have ambitions, he doesn't belong to us."
Meanwhile, Mourinho has opened the door to club record signing Tanguy Ndombele to make a return to the first team after falling out of favour last season
The Frenchman, who cost Spurs £55million from Lyon last season, flopped in a torrid first year in English football, suffering injury and fitness issues, and has been linked with a move away this summer.
Ndombele fell foul of Mourinho, who publicly criticised him on two occasions, and gave him just 64 minutes of action in the final nine games of the season after the restart.
But Spurs are keen to give him time to establish himself at the club and Mourinho says he is showing a good attitude.
Mourinho said: "He's working very hard. I have to be honest and say he is working better than ever. Of course he finished the season injured with a very important injury.
"He came back after holidays and of course he was still injured, in spite of doing some work on the recovery process.
"He didn't start the pre-season with us. When you saw him 45 minutes against Watford it was easy to understand and say he's not in the best condition. But he trained only two days before that match.
"This week he did not go to the national team and trained every day. Is his condition better today than it was last week? Yes his condition is better. And he is working very, very hard.
"So the point now is - can he keep that commitment and desire? If he does it, he has incredible potential."