Harry Redknapp wants leaders and made a bid for Rio Ferdinand

Posted Sunday, April 10, 2011 by theguardian.com

Harry Redknapp wants leaders and made a bid for Rio Ferdinand
Harry Redknapp said he tried to sign Rio Ferdinand for Tottenham.

Harry Redknapp has admitted that he attempted to sign Rio Ferdinand from Manchester United at the start of the season as he urged the Tottenham Hotspur chairman, Daniel Levy, to prioritise the acquisition of leaders with "real character" and the "will to win".

The manager will send his team out to face Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final second leg at White Hart Lane on Wednesday 4-0 down from the Bernabéu and he is determined that it will not be the club's valedictory appearance in the competition. Redknapp wants to turn Tottenham into Champions League regulars but he feels that to do so he needs more players of a particular ilk. Levy likes to sign young players with potential who can be developed into stars, but Redknapp craves tough professionals with big personalities.

The audacious move for Ferdinand failed – United said he was not for sale – and although Redknapp would like to try again for the defender he brought through the ranks at West Ham United in the mid-1990s, he is not optimistic about his chances of success. He is, however, eager to add one or two players "that will make the difference".

"I've said many times to the chairman, it's not always about the best players, it's about getting characters in your football club," Redknapp said. "Chelsea have had it over the years, whether it's John Terry or Frank [Lampard], and Man United have had it with [Ryan] Giggs, Ferdinand and [Nemanja] Vidic.

"William [Gallas] has come in and given us experience and we've got Michael [Dawson] at the back but in the long term I still feel that you need to find another one or two if you're going to keep progressing, that type of real character, who has opinions and that will to win around the dressing room – a few leaders. You can't have too many at your club. That's why I tried to take Phil Neville from Everton in January.

"I can't ever see us getting Rio now. I was interested. Last year, I tried. I tried at the start of the season … When he was on the teamsheet against Chelsea in the Champions League, I thought Man United had got a much, much better chance of getting a result and it proved that way."

Tottenham have started looking towards the summer transfer window. The club's chief scout, Ian Broomfield, watched Giuseppe Rossi score in Villarreal's 5-1 Europa League quarter-final first-leg win over FC Twente on Thursday night – Rossi has been the subject of interest from Tottenham – while Redknapp also likes Marko Marin, the 22-year-old Werder Bremen and Germany left-winger.

"You've got to add to the squad," Redknapp said. "The chairman knows … if we can't move on, then you have to accept trying to get into the Europa League every year and trying to finish sixth or seventh. But if you want to try to make the Champions League, you have to keep improving."