Monday 15 May 2017 11:28, UK
Gary Neville believes Dele Alli, Harry Kane and Mauricio Pochettino must be at Tottenham when they move into their new stadium.
Spurs bid farewell to White Hart Lane on Super Sunday, beating Manchester United 2-1 to finish their final league campaign unbeaten at their home of 118 years.
They will play at Wembley next season before moving into their new stadium for the 2018/19 campaign.
Sky in Italy understands Pochettino is wanted by Inter Milan but Neville says chairman Daniel Levy must keep the Argentine and resist the urge to cash in on Kane and Alli.
"The job Mauricio Pochettino has done is wonderful," he said on the Gary Neville podcast. "He's got a team that's got resilience and robustness about it, but it also represents Tottenham.
"It's got some local lads in there as well and that's important. They play the right way and have a toughness I've not seen from a Tottenham team in the last 15 to 20 years.
"They have to hang on to two or three players. Dele Alli and Harry Kane have to stay at this football club in this next 18 months to two years because the message when they go back to White Hart Lane is that they want people to pay more money and fill that stadium every single week.
"They are going to need 20,000 more people every week to fill the stadium up. I know they've got a long waiting list for season ticket holders but it can go backwards quickly.
"The third person they need to keep is the manager. He's probably number one because he's an absolutely fantastic manager.
"Those three are key to go into the new stadium and I think it's impossible that Daniel Levy will send a message to the fans, to the football club, that we are retreating going to Wembley next year and beyond into the new stadium.
"They have to keep those players. They will keep those players. It's a short-term investment to think you can pull in £50m, £60m or £70m for Kane and Alli but the reality is you never replace them.
"They went through that before with Gareth Bale and it took them three or four years to get over that."
And Neville also paid tribute to the job done by Pochettino, adding: "For not a lot of money, compared to what other teams are spending, he's done a wonderful job.
"He picked up a pretty rancid bunch. There were seven or eight characters in there that you wouldn't want in any squad.
"He's got rid of them and been really efficient in doing that, replacing them with what I would call good people and good players, who are the right type.
"They strangle teams. They really push up the pitch better than any team in the league. They are better defensively than most teams and they have a good balance.
"Credit to Chelsea for beating them this season because this is a really good Tottenham side."
