Tottenham insist they weren't forced to sell their top players to balance the books.

The London Evening Standard says Tottenham have announced record pre-tax profits of £39.8million but insisted they were not forced to sell their stars to balance the books.

Although the club would have made a substantial loss had transfers not accounted for a £53.4m profit on player trading as a host of top names including Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane left White Hart Lane, chairman Daniel Levy claimed there was no pressure to sell.

He said: "During the 2008 summer transfer window, gains were made on the sales of a large number of registrations.

"However it needs to be noted that the club did not make the player trading profits in a manner that was planned or welcomed as they arose, in the main, from the regrettable sale of certain key players."