Harry Redknapp is worried he might lose some of Tottenham's fringe players in January as they are keen to play first-team football.
Spurs boss eager to retain squad players in January
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp is worried he might lose some of his fringe players in January as they are keen to play first-team football.
The Spurs boss has a vast squad at his disposal at White Hart Lane and a number of non-regulars have grown unhappy at their situations.
Vedran Corluka has joined Sebastien Bassong, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Heurelho Gomes in declaring his wish to leave in the New Year.
Striker Jermain Defoe has also been linked with a move to QPR after falling behind on-loan Manchester City hit-man Emmanuel Adebayor in the pecking order.
Redknapp is keen to retain as many players as possible, stating unless he can bring in a replacement then no one will be leaving the North London club.
Difficult
"It's difficult because the players want to play. You won't keep them happy [if they're not]. You just hope you can convince them [to stay]," he said.
"You want to keep them happy and onside. We need them. We're going to need a big squad and unless you can get a replacement, you can't afford to let people go.
"We need that strength in depth, especially if we stay in the Europa League."
Tottenham tackle Greek side PAOK in the Europa League on Wednesday and Redknapp admits it is a must-win game following their 1-0 defeat by Rubin Kazan.
"It is a must-win game. We are a point behind PAOK. You can see Rubin beating Shamrock, so we need to win," he continued.
"We don't want to go to the last game because Rubin could rest players for the last game and they will have already qualified.
"But that doesn't change what team I'd put out. I'd have made 11 changes to the team but Pavlyuchenko tweaked his knee (on Monday) quite badly, so Jermain Defoe might have to play."
