SPURS boss Harry Redknapp has been told he will have to sell players before he can spend money in the January transfer window - despite Tottenham announcing record pre-tax profits of �33.

SPURS boss Harry Redknapp has been told he will have to sell players before he can spend money in the January transfer window - despite Tottenham announcing record pre-tax profits of �33.4million yesterday. (Daily Express)

Redknapp is intent on unloading �14m flop Roman Pavlyuchenko and �15m winger David Bentley in January and will aim to invest that cash on top targets.

But Redknapp is still expected to go to chairman Daniel Levy with a demand for more money, with Champions League football at stake.

Redknapp has targeted �10m-rated West Ham centre-back Matthew Upson as a must-have investment, as well as Valencia midfielder Vicente Rodriguez, Toulouse enforcer Moussa Sissoko, who is expected to cost about �15m, or the Brazilian Sandro of Internacional who would fetch a similar price.

Spurs spent almost �150m in the last 16 months - more than any of the Big Four clubs - a figure surpassed only by Manchester City.

The club yesterday announced record pre-tax profits for the year ending June 2009, helped by the sale of Dimitar Berbatov to Manchester United for �30.75m and Robbie Keane to Liverpool for �20m.

Spurs spent �119.3m on new players in the financial year, but another �29.4m since June on players such as Peter Crouch, Sebastien Bassong, Niko Kranjcar, Kyle Naughton and Kyle Walker.

In that same year they made a transfer profit of �56.5m, up from �16.4m in 2008. And since June they have sold another �20m of players.

Jamie O'Hara, meanwhile, will beg Redknapp to allow him to extend his loan spell at Portsmouth until the end of the season. He is concerned Pompey fans will think he is turning his back on them in their hour of need instead of rolling up his sleeves with the rest of the side as they prepare for a scrap.

His first goal for the club at Blackburn on Saturday did little to ease the relegation worries, as they still lost 3-1 to remain bottom of the table.

O'Hara was brought in by Paul Hart initially until January but, having got a taste of regular action, he is in no rush to get back to White Hart Lane. He said: “I say to myself, 'How would it look to the Pompey fans if I left in January'?

“They travel away and come to every game and we're fighting for every point. Then, come January, I pack and go back to Tottenham and I'm back in the comfort zone.

“How does it look to them? Maybe it looks like I've walked away from a fight. I'm not that type of person. I want to help us get out of trouble.”

“I'm enjoying my football and I'm playing every week. That's all I can ask for. All I want to do as a player in the top flight is play football.” 'We've made progess in reaching our ultimate goal'