Benoît Assou-Ekotto calls on Tottenham's owners to fight to keep leading players at White Hart LaneTottenham defender Benoît Assou-Ekotto has warned that the club must keep their leading players or risk “ending up like Aston Villa”. Leap of faith: Spurs' Benoît Assou-Ekotto has called on the club to back their ambition The French-born Cameroon international singled out Villa as an example of a club failing to show enough ambition to compete at the highest level. His comments are likely to cause consternation at Villa Park, where the owner, Randy Lerner, has been criticised by a section of supporters for not pumping more money into the club. Villa have lost several prominent players in recent seasons: James Milner was sold to Manchester City, Stewart Downing left for Liverpool and Ashley Young was bought by Manchester United, for a combined income of £63million. In contrast, Tottenham successfully fended off an attempt from Chelsea to sign playmaker Luka Modric in the summer, while the Wales international Gareth Bale also remained at White Hart Lane, despite attracting interest from some of Europe’s elite clubs. Assou-Ekotto, 27, believes Spurs must retain that hard-line stance if they are to realise their ambition of becoming regulars in the Champions League. “There’s a lot to be excited about at Spurs now with the new training ground and maybe a new stadium,” he said. “It feels like the future could be really good for the fans but if the players don’t stay, we could end up like Aston Villa.
Fair comment I think.
Truth hurts when we see in black and white how most of football sees us.
Assou-Ekotto might be right, but I bet he'll be looking for an exit sign too if Spurs don't make the CL this season, and suddenly Bale, VDV, Defoe, Modric all decide Spurs aren't good enough anymore.