Tottenham Hotspur Boss Harry Redknapp Hits Back At West Ham United Over Scott Parker Bid

Harry Redknapp has responded in the transfer dispute over Scott Parker with West Ham United, denying that Tottenham Hotspur have done anything wrong in making a move for the midfielder.

West Ham confirmed yesterday that they had received a bid from their London rivals for Parker but had rejected chairman Daniel Levy’s approaches.

Hammers co-owner David Sullivan said yesterday that he was “very angry with Harry, Daniel and Spurs,” over their enquiry for Parker, a player whom West Ham see as the backbone of their team.

But Redknapp, speaking after Tottenham’s 4-1 friendly defeat to Villarreal, hit back at Sullivan’s comments.

"Who made it public that we made an offer?" Redknapp said.

"You can make an offer for a player if you want to. You can make an offer for anybody. I'm sure the chairman must have got some encouragement or he wouldn't have made an offer. So I'm not sure the full story has been told about that one. The chairman wouldn't have made an offer unless he thought there was a chance that they wanted to do something."

Redknapp also confirmed his interest in Manchester City forward Craig Bellamy, of whom he has long been an admirer, but didn’t know if Roberto Mancini was willing to do business with him.

“I like Craig Bellamy but I don't know if they would sell him," said Redknapp. "The chairman deals with all the transfers. He asks me what I want and I tell him. I don't know where he's at with Bellamy, if anywhere."

Parker and Bellamy are both experienced players and Redknapp is keen to add a bit of ‘know how’ to his young squad as he leads the club into the Champions League for the first time in their history, and cites Inter’s recent European success as a reminder of how important experience is at the top level.

 “We've got a good group of players but two or three players with experience would make a massive difference to the team. You look at Inter – they won the Champions League with a team of men, they were all experienced players. You need players with experience."

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