Harry Redknapp has insisted that none of his stars are for sale as the January transfer window, and January transfer speculation, creep onto the horizon.

Luka Modric has been linked with a move to Chelsea for some time now, but credit to Tottenham, they rebuffed bids for the influential midfielder and retained his services despite the player wanting the move. Fast forward a few months and everything appears fine. Modric is playing at a level which is near his best and everything seems to be forgotten.

However players will always be linked with moves away from Tottenham with the latest being Gareth Bale and rumours of tentative interest from Barcelona. Whilst Bale admits that it’s “always nice” to be linked with moves to football giants like Barcelona, Harry Redknapp has an altogether different message.

“We have never spoke to anyone about Bale,” Redknapp said.

“If you start selling your best players where does it end? You have to say we’ll be a mid-table team. If you want to be a top team you’ve got to keep your best players.”

Redknapp is right of course although not every club is in a position to be able to resist bids for their better players. Fortunately Tottenham are in the mix for Champions League places which gives them a huge advantage when it comes to keeping hold of players.

With this in mind I expect January will be quiet at White Hart Lane although, traditionally anyway, they are still worth keeping an eye on as Redknapp usually has an ace up his sleeve.