HARRY REDKNAPP has told Tottenham Hotspur supporters not to expect the club to make many signings over the summer because his squad is already strong enough to mount challenges in both the Premier League and the Champions League next season.

He did, however, suggest that he could venture into the transfer market to sign “one really special player”.

Tottenham also announced that they have pre-empted any attempt by other clubs to sign one of their best performers of the season by agreeing a new four-year deal with the left-back Gareth Bale.

To stress how strong he believes his squad is, Redknapp pointed to the calibre of substitutes that he was able to select for Wednesday’s victory at Manchester City, when the Spurs bench included internationals such as Wilson Palacios, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Sebastien Bassong.

His optimism is increased by the fact that Sandro, the 21-year-old Brazilian midfielder for whom Spurs paid €7 million to Intern Milan last month, will arrive over the summer. The manager said the four players out on loan – Robbie Keane (Celtic), Alan Hutton (Sunderland), Jamie O’Hara (Portsmouth) and Kyle Naughton (Middlesbrough) – are all in his plans.

Redknapp even sounded hopeful that Jonathan Woodgate would be fit for the start of next season. The centre-back is still in Australia receiving treatment on the groin injury that has kept him out of action since October.

“It’s difficult to improve this squad,” Redknapp said. “If Woodgate comes back fit, we’ve got good options everywhere. I wouldn’t lose any sleep if we don’t do anything this summer. But if we could find a really special player, someone who could take the team to another level like, for example, the way Torres did to Liverpool, then we’ll try to do that.”