​Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has cooled speculation linking misfiring Roberto Soldado with a link away after saying the striker is in his plans for the new season.





The former Valencia man cost Spurs £26m when they brought him to White Hart Lane in the summer of 2013, but he has largely disappointed, having failed to make anywhere near the desired impact.





Pochettino sparked the rumour after leaving him out the 25-man squad for the pre-season friendly against the Major League Soccer (MLS) All-Stars on 30 July – alongside other out of favour players such as Emmanuel Adebayor and Vlad Chiriches, who later joined Napoli.





21 - Roberto Soldado has scored one goal for every 21 shots attempted in the Premier League (excl. penalties) since joining Spurs. Return. — OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 3, 2015





Villarreal boss Marcelino Garcia Toral recently said he was hoping to bring Soldado back to La Liga, while underlining the difficulty in negotiating a deal with Spurs.





"It is very difficult [to sign Soldado]. He is currently in a great team and just two seasons ago they paid a high fee to sign him. It is a difficult situation," Toral said.





The Daily Mirror recently reported that the north London club are indeed ready to take a huge loss by accepting his departure this summer for as low as £11m after having already opened talks with the La Liga side.





Roberto Soldado ready to end Tottenham misery with cut-price move to Villarreal http://t.co/xY4sG0Yw4h pic.twitter.com/PaQa9aIIW4 — DailyNew5 (@DailyNew5) August 2, 2015





Pochettino, however, has now claimed the striker is in his plans ahead of the new season and he does not expect him to move anywhere during the current transfer window.





"I can't confirm [whether Villarreal are interested in Soldado]. He is our player and he is in our plans for the new season," the manager was quoted by AS during a press conference ahead of the Tottenham game against Real Madrid on 4 August.





Spurs kick off their Premier League campaign with a tough fixture away to Manchester United on Saturday afternoon.











