Injuries force Redknapp to focus on defence

Tottenham Hotspur boss Harry Redknapp has admitted he could change transfer targets after suffering injury blows to three of his defenders.

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Redknapp and Crouch: Scene to be repeated soon, but with a white shirt instead.

Redknapp had made a striker his number one area for improvement with Peter Crouch and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar at the top of his wanted list.

But now Spurs will be without Michael Dawson, Jonathan Woodgate and Ledley King as they prepare for their first game of the season against Liverpool and they do not have one experienced, specialised central defender on their books.

Full-backs Kyle Naughton and Kyle Walker have already arrived from Sheffield United but a central defender is now needed.

King "hasn't kicked a ball all pre-season'' while Woodgate has been sent to a specialist in America over a groin injury. Dawson has an Achilles injury.

"We weren't thinking of buying anyone in defence but suddenly this problem has come up all of a sudden and it leaves us short,'' said Redknapp.

"Suddenly your priorities change and you think maybe we'll have to do something about getting a centre half in for the start of the season because we have no central defenders.''

While looking for a defender, Redknapp also admitted that the price would have to be right for Portsmouth striker Crouch, who accepted a £12m bid from Sunderland earlier this month only for the player to reject a move north.

"I like Crouch but at the moment I have four good strikers so it's not really a priority for us,'' said Redknapp, who signed the England striker while he was manager at both Southampton and Portsmouth.

"He's a good player and most teams would like to have him but the whole package looks expensive to me. We're not desperate at the moment for strikers. It's an awful lot of money for a 28 or 29-year-old.

"No disrespect to him but it's an expensive deal because there's no return when you pay that type of money and obviously his salary is high so I don't know if it is possible for us to do that deal.'

"Huntelaar is a great player that interests us but I think it's another one that's beyond us."

One player who Redknapp insists will not be leaving Spurs is midfielder Jermaine Jenas, who had been linked with Aston Villa.

"I've never heard a thing about Jermaine Jenas. Martin O'Neill has never spoken to me about it,'' the Spurs boss said. "I don't want to sell him, he's a terrific player.''