Jonathan Woodgate hopes good friend Stewart Downing, the Middlesbrough winger, can join him at Tottenham.

"If you look at this time last season, Spurs signed players (Woodgate and Alan Hutton at a cost of £17million) and we must keep on buying," said Woodgate.

"We need as many top-quality players as we can get. Stewart Downing is a Middlesbrough player, so I can't say much about his future.

"But he is an England international and anyone who plays for England is a good player."