Mauricio Pochettino admits he has no guarantees that his top stars will be at the club next season, but insists he will “fight a lot” to keep his favoured players.

Having sold the likes of Luka Modric and Gareth Bale in recent years, Spurs fans fear Hugo Lloris may depart this summer.

Pochettino declined to comment on the speculation about the goalkeeper at today’s press conference, stating he “doesn’t want to talk about rumours”, but he admits he has no assurances that his best players will not be sold.

“In football it’s difficult - if you sign the contract you never have the guarantee,” he said. “I have a contract, a lot of managers have contracts, but there is never a guarantee. In football you never know. But it’s true that personally if I want some player to stay here I will fight a lot to keep him.”

Spurs sit in sixth position going into Sunday’s home game against Manchester City, and Pochettino concedes that is probably a fair reflection of their standing in the Premier League.

“Always in football anything can happen but if we analyse every club, maybe our position now is realistic, it is the reality,” he said.

A report this week revealed the Lilywhites had the sixth-highest wage bill in the top flight last campaign, underlining the relationship between how much each club pays their players and how they perform on the field – but Pochettino insists it is possible for Spurs to punch above their weight, and even challenge for the title in future.

“It’s not only if you pay money you are sure to achieve something,” he said. “The key is to take the right decisions, not just invest money.

“It’s not about money, it’s about the right profile of players, taking the right decisions to build a balanced squad. This is our job now.”

Pochettino added: “Manchester City has a squad and is a club where it’s realistic to fight to win the Premier League. Maybe in the future we will have the same resources where it will be realistic to fight to win the Premier League. This is my dream and we want to fight for that, to try to find the resources in the next few years for it to be realistic to fight to win the Premier League.

“It’s always in our mind to improve the squad, our game and this is our target. We are a club where we take decisions together with the chairman and the structure in behind him. We all want the best for the club and this is our dream - firstly the chairman’s.”

Kyle Walker and Ben Davies are out of action for Sunday’s clash against Man City at White Hart Lane, but Danny Rose is in line to return from a hamstring injury. The left-back will be assessed in tomorrow’s final training session.

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