HARRY Redknapp admits that the senior Spurs players who are out on loan will be the first to go when Tottenham streamline their squad in the summer.

Chairman Daniel Levy has stressed the need to reduce the wage bill at White Hart Lane in the close season – and Redknapp concedes that the priority will be to sell the highly-paid Lilywhites who are currently playing for other clubs.

“I can see the situation. We’ve got lots of players out on loan that we haven’t moved, or haven’t been able to move, in the last couple of years, and they’re still here,” he said.

“There’s people like David Bentley at Birmingham, there’s Robbie [Keane] at West Ham, [Giovani] Dos Santos out in Spain and Jamie O’Hara at Wolves.

“We need to trim the squad a bit to try to get some money in. I’d rather have a smaller squad and maybe try to bring one or two top players in.”

Spurs’ hopes of offloading Keane to West Ham on a permanent basis are looking increasingly unlikely as the Hammers, who are committed to signing the Irishman if they avoid relegation, continue to prop up the league with just three games to play.

Meanwhile, Bentley has fallen out of favour at Birmingham, storming out of St Andrew’s before Saturday’s clash with Wolves after discovering that he had been omitted from the 18-man squad.

Spurs also have a number of younger players out on loan. Kyle Walker has spent the second half of the season with Aston Villa, while the likes of Kyle Naughton (Leicester), Jake Livermore (Leeds) and Andros Townsend (Millwall) have all been playing in the Championship.

Steven Caulker was at Bristol City before his successful stay was cut short by injury, and South Africa international Bongani Khumalo has recently returned from Preston North End after suffering a foot injury.

While Redknapp admits that he will cash in on some of his fringe players this summer, he is keen to retain the services of Spurs’ leading prodigies, and the manager is known to have high hopes for Walker and Caulker in particular.

However, the Spurs boss concedes that he has been unimpressed by certain members of the club’s supposed ‘next generation’.

“I think it answers a lot of questions about these young players, how they do when they go out on loan” he said.

“You find some come back and blame the team they go to because they don’t play football like Barcelona, and that’s what they want to do - ‘they kick the ball too long’ or something else, there’s usually an excuse with it.

“It answers a million questions for me about their attitude and how good they really are. If they go to lower division clubs and can’t play, and can’t get in their team, there’s not a lot of chance that they’re going to come and play at Tottenham.”