HARRY Redknapp insists he did not plan for Pascal Chimbonda to be a short-term signing after Spurs sold the defender for the second summer in a row. Having left Juande Ramos Lilywhites for Sunderland in July 2008, the French full-back was one of three

HARRY Redknapp insists he did not plan for Pascal Chimbonda to be a short-term signing after Spurs sold the defender for the second summer in a row.

Having left Juande Ramos' Lilywhites for Sunderland in July 2008, the French full-back was one of three former Spurs who remarkably returned to White Hart Lane in January, along with Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane.

However, the 30-year-old made just five appearances under Redknapp, two of them as a substitute, convincing him to quit the Lane again and join Blackburn Rovers in a �2million switch.

"Did I plan for him to be a short-term signing? No not really," said the Spurs boss. "I brought him here because when he came we had injuries, and I just felt he could play a few positions, so we brought him back just to give us some cover really.

"Alan Hutton was injured at the time - he was out for the season - so we had no real cover. He could play right-back, left-back and centre-half at a pinch, so that's why we bought him.

"The situation we were in, in a relegation battle, we needed to make sure we weren't going to be short of numbers. But then this year I've got [Vedran] Corluka, I've got Hutton fit and I've got Kyle Naughton as well, so he wasn't getting a game and he wanted to play.