'We have a full squad' - Pochettino downplays Tottenham links to Grealish

Mauricio Pochettino has downplayed the chances of Tottenham making a move for Jack Grealish in January, citing the lack of room in his team.

The Aston Villa star was widely reported to be Spurs’ top target this summer, with links to the London club remaining right up through the transfer deadline.

No move was made, however, and Spurs did not sign a single player during the summer window.

Grealish went on to sign a new five-year contract with the Championship side after the close of the window, and has since claimed missing out on the move did not bother him at all.

However, reports continue to link Grealish with a move to Tottenham, perhaps as early as January.

Asked about whether the club would return for the winger, Pochettino didn’t fully rule it out, but claimed at the moment his squad is full and did not need any new additions.

“Look, I think there were plenty of players linked with Tottenham, not only last summer but in the previous season,” Pochettino said in a press conference on Friday.

“You know it's difficult to talk about rumours, about names. We'll see what happens in January.

“We have a full squad, we have 28 in the squad. It's impossible to sign players if we don't have the space. We have more, look what happened in the Champions League with Juan Foyth, GK Nkoudou and Vincent Janssen.

“We don't have enough space at the moment. I think it makes no sense now to talk about signing players.”

Tottenham face Leicester on Saturday before a Champions League clash with Barcelona on Wednesday, with a spot in the knockout stage on the line.

However, Pochettino may be without Kieran Trippier, who returned from a month-long absence against Southampton but had to come off late.

The defender will miss the Foxes match, and Pochettino conceded he is uncertain if Trippier will be ready for Barcelona, though it is not looking good at the moment.

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“I don’t know, I cannot guess,” Pochettino said when asked if Trippier would be ready. “After he came off on Wednesday I think first of all we need to try… We are creating a plan for him to try to help him improve.

“If we apply common sense, it’s difficult for tomorrow to play when you come off. After 48 hours or 72 hours I think it’s not common sense to think in playing with him. And I don’t believe for Barcelona he’s going to be available. We’ll see, we need to assess him and we’ll see what happens, what’s going on after, to be training and resting with a plan to improve his problem.

“He cannot cope with 90 minutes and that’s why we cannot make another mistake because after, in this busy fixture [period]. It’s difficult to play with some players thinking that you need to manage the bench because maybe he won’t arrive to complete the 90 minutes.

“That’s why we need to be sure next time we think about putting him in to play that we’re right and that he’s going to cope with the 90 minutes. After, something can happen in football and you cannot avoid 100 per cent the risk, but it’s so important to be right and of course thinking about trying to help him always, like we’re thinking for all the players.”