Tottenham: Ange Postecoglou not interested in transfer targets who need convincing after Mathys Tel snub | OneFootball

Spurs have reportedly failed to convince the Bayern forward to make the move

Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou says any prospective signings who need the "hard sell" to join the club are "not right" for Spurs this month.

Bayern Munich's Mathys Tel is reported to have turned down Spurs after the clubs agreed a £50million fee for the 19-year-old forward, while they are also exploring available centre-backs ahead of Monday's deadline after Radu Dragusin suffered a knee injury against Elfsborg.

Johan Lange, Spurs' technical director, flew to Munich this week to discuss a move with Tel's camp but the Frenchman is thought to be considering other options.

Postecoglou has consistently said he only wants new signings who are enthusiastic about the club's potential and, asked about the challenge of convincing players to join given Spurs' league position, he said: "It depends what the players are looking for.

"You can look at it two ways, ok the league form is not great but there’s some pretty big possibilities to have success here in the last three or four months.

Mathys Tel is attracting interest from Manchester United, Aston Villa and Arsenal

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"It’s still a big club, it’s still a club that can challenge for honours and it’s whether the player sees the potential that we see right now, or certainly that I see. If it’s too much of a hard sell it’s probably not the right one for us."

If he joins Spurs, Tel, 19, would be the club's fifth teenage signing since the start of last summer following the additions of Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray, Wilson Odobert and Min-hyeok Yang, while they have also added young goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, 21, to Postecoglou's squad this month.

The head coach has called for January signings who can immediately improve his depleted squad but says the club continues to face a "balancing act" between signing youth and proven players.

"It’s always a balancing act of what we need right now but never losing sight of what we’re trying to build," he said.

A lot of that depends on the development of the young players too. If they develop really quickly you don’t want to close that door for them too. If Archie or Lucas are becoming top players I wouldn’t want to block their pathway to becoming real important players for us. You have to judge it as you go along."

Daniel Levy is set to be the target of another fan protest this weekend

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Spurs visit London rivals Brentford on Sunday, with the away end expected to vocally protest against chairman Daniel Levy again.

Postecoglou admits he has so far "failed" to unify the club in the way he hoped and believes it will be a "difficult" task in future.

"I’ve always felt when you are trying to build something successful, you need to be united in that," Postecoglou said.

"I have probably failed in trying to unify the club in that way and part of that is just because of the form we are in in the league, which allows peoples’ minds to go away from the here and now. I thought the crowd were good last night [against Elfsborg].

"They understood we had a young squad out there and they got genuinely excited towards the end of the game seeing the young boys.

"That’s what we’re trying to tap into because we’re going to need the support in this last phase of the season to hopefully create something special. But I have often said I can’t sit here and dictate to people what they should or shouldn’t do.

My role is to create an environment where we are unified – particularly when you go through tough times

Ange Postecoglou

"My role is to try and create an environment where we are unified and we have to be unified – particularly when you go through tough times, the last thing you want is splintering in our mindset and focus."

Asked if Levy's history with supporters meant Spurs made the challenge of unifying Spurs impossible, Postecoglou said: "It's not that it can't happen, it just makes it more difficult.

"It's not an usual situation for me, I've faced it before at other clubs. Usually when you get things right on the field that gets everyone aligned again and focussed on what's important. I think even for the supporters themselves, they'd much rather come to the game and cheer their side on, feel good about their football team.

"Obviously they don't at the moment because of our form and league position, which is understandable. If that happens at any club, there's going to be some sort of dissension there. All I can do is my utmost to get the team back on track in the league and give our supporters the priority of just enjoying our football team."