Football
Dan Kilpatrick, Tottenham Correspondent 7y

Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino wants four new signings

LONDON -- Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has targeted four new signings before the end of the window but refused to discuss the imminent arrival of Davinson Sanchez from Ajax.

Spurs are the only Premier League club yet to make a summer signing but have agreed a deal that could be worth more than £40 million for centre-back Sanchez.

They are also interested in Fulham's Ryan Sessegnon, Ross Barkley of Everton and Celta Vigo midfielder Pape Cheikh Diop.

"I want four players if it's possible, but it's not easy. We need time to work," Pochettino told a news conference. "I cannot speak about him [Sanchez] because he's not our player.

"We expect to sign some players before the end of the transfer window. That is our aim -- to try to improve our squad, to try to bring new faces, new energy to the team. It will be a long season."

Pochettino called for an end to talk about Tottenham's Wembley "hoodoo" ahead of Sunday's game against Chelsea, their first league game at their temporary home.

Spurs won just once in five attempts at the national stadium last season and have lost seven of their last nine matches there, including April's defeat to the Blues in the FA Cup semifinal.

But Pochettino said: "Wembley is not a problem. We are the problem if we don't play well and don't win, like last season.

"If we are not capable of winning at Wembley it's not because of Wembley, it's because of us.

"It's the most exciting place to play, Wembley. It's where football was born. For me, in Argentina or when I was in Spain, one day to be sitting at Wembley was a big dream.

"Now I have the possibility to play every two weeks, or maybe sometimes every week or three games in one week, and it's a problem, Wembley?"

Pochettino added that "one of our challenges is to make Wembley home," adding: "Before, it was difficult to think of playing at White Hart Lane, then try to move and to play Champions League [at Wembley].

"I think it was a perfect excuse sometimes for everyone. Now it is not an excuse. Now we need to give our best and be sure we're ready. I think the team is ready."

The Spurs boss dismissed concerns that Wembley's big pitch -- five metres longer and one metre wider than White Hart Lane's -- would affect the team's style, pointing out: "Against Juventus [in a preseason friendly] we played against one the best teams in Europe and we played really well. Many pitches have the same size as Wembley."

Kieran Trippier (ankle) will be assessed on Saturday, but Erik Lamela (hips), Georges-Kevin Nkoudou (foot) and Danny Rose (knee) remain sidelined.

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