Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino is hopeful of signing a new striker in the next few days to help ease the burden on Harry Kane.
Kane was left isolated in the first half of Tottenham’s 1-1 draw at Leicester City on Saturday. The England forward is still waiting for his first goal of the season.
Pochettino is aware Kane needs support and the Argentine remains hopeful of signing West Bromwich Albion striker Saido Berahino.
The North London club are expected to launch a new, £20 million (Dh115.3m) bid for the 22-year-old England international after having an initial £15m offer rejected this week.
“We need to have the balance in the squad, we have some targets and maybe in the next few days we can help the team a little bit more,” Pochettino said.
Of Kane, he said: “I think he worked very hard and I am happy with his performance. He played with (Erik) Lamela, with (Nacer) Chadli and in the second half with Dele Alli. We tried to help him but I think he had a very good performance.”
It was the second Premier League game in succession in which Spurs let a lead slip, following their 2-2 draw with Stoke City last weekend.
Alli’s late opener at the King Power Stadium was cancelled out less than a minute later by Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez.
“Maybe it was a fair result because we made some mistakes,” Pochettino said.
“I think until we scored we deserved to win, but in the end we made some mistakes and conceded chances.
“They scored and we gave them other chances, but we dominated the second half. The first half was 50-50.
“We need to improve and compete better because against Stoke we were 2-0 up and we conceded two goals in the last minutes and now again.
“My focus is working this week to do better than today.”
With Tottenham ready to spend on Berahino, it was a player who cost Leicester only £400,000 who was the star once again for Claudio Ranieri’s side.
Mahrez, who was signed from Ligue 2 side Le Havre in January last year, scored his fourth goal of the season for Leicester, who maintained their unbeaten start to the top-flight season.
“Mahrez is important because, in this moment, he is in a great condition,” Ranieri said.
“Everything he does is very good for the team: good pass, good shot, good ideas.
“He is also improving in a defensive way. I am an Italian manager and I want to see how he defends, too.
“Slowly, slowly he is getting better, at the end he will be a complete player.”
Leicester could have snatched a third successive victory when captain Wes Morgan headed straight at Hugo Lloris from close range. Earlier, Mahrez thought he should have had a penalty in first-half stoppage time when he was brought down by Jan Vertonghen.
“The draw was right,” Ranieri said. “I wanted to see the gap between us and a team building to reach the Champions League.
“Tottenham have qualified for Europe five times in the last six seasons. The quality of their players is very high.
“They had great chances and we also had two great chances. I appreciate the spirit of the team when we concede a goal and after 25 seconds we equalise.”
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