• Manager says club must have more than one target • ‘We have confidence we will bring in some offensive player,’ says Pochettino

Mauricio Pochettino has said Tottenham cannot afford to get tangled up in pursuit of a main attacking target. Desperate for a goalscoring reinforcement and with West Bromwich Albion’s Saido Berahino a prominent objective, Pochettino stressed the club cannot afford to miss the centre-forward boat by focusing only on a best-case option. “If you have one and you fail, you are dead,” the manager said.

While West Brom are braced for improved bids for Berahino, the Spurs chairman, Daniel Levy, is working on a shortlist as the days tick down towards the transfer deadline at 6pm on 1 September.

Pochettino said: “We have confidence we will bring in some offensive player but I can’t give the name today. Players that we want to bring here are always happy to join us. Tottenham is a big club, play very attractive football and our philosophy is very clear. I promise you: if we want to bring a player, they want to come. We need to bring the right profile for us.”

Pochettino wants Tottenham to have the flexibility to have options up front, both in personnel and tactically, this season. Easing the load shouldered by Harry Kane is imperative and the idea is for any incoming player to be able to play alongside Kane as well as instead of him as the main spear.

“This season we can play in two different options, two different systems,” Pochettino explained. “Like we played against Stoke, with two strikers, Nacer Chadli and Harry Kane. We can play in a different system, I think we have the players for it.”

Pochettino also believes Kane will benefit and improve with a new arrival to push the squad. “We have players like Chadli and Lamela, and now Njié, who can play like a striker but I think we need one more striker to be sure for different games. We need one more offensive player.”

Clinton Njié, the 22-year-old Cameroonian bought from Lyon, spent his first day training with Tottenham on Thursday after a couple of days in Paris waiting for his work permit to come through. He will be assessed on Friday before Saturday’s match at Leicester.

“He is a very good player but he has only been here one day. We have to wait to see if he can stay in the squad for the game. He is fast, technical, his condition is high. Last season in Lyon he scored and gave assists. He is very direct player and he is brave.”