Jan Vertonghen insists he still has "a couple of good years" left at the highest level and hinted he could yet sign a new contract at Tottenham.

The 32-year-old has entered the final year of his deal and, asked if he is in contract talks ahead of Tuesday's clash with Bayern Munich, he said: "I prefer not to go too deep into that but there's always some movement everywhere."

"[My future] is not a distraction," he added. "I’m very aware of my age. I feel fairly young and it doesn’t distract me. I want to play as many games as I can at the highest possible level, that's what we are doing now and that's what we are doing tomorrow. I’m very ambitious and I feel I’ve got a couple of good years left in me, that's definitely how I'm feeling now. I hope I can help the team as long as I can."

Pushed on whether he has a long-term future at Spurs, Vertonghen said: "It's my eighth season now, I had a great past, I'm feeling great at the moment in every single way here. That's the only thing I want to say about that."

Manager Mauricio Pochettino said: "I am open to everything, but [Vertonghen's contract] is a dealing between the club, him and his agent. Let's see what happens. Jan, after five years that we are all together, is always an important part of my project. That feeling isn't going to change."

Vertonghen has been a regular since Pochettino's arrival in 2014 but he was left out of the XI for the opening three matches of the season, prompting speculation that the manager was preparing for a future without the Belgian. Vertonghen insisted his desire to play remains as fierce as ever but admitted he is still working to get back to his best.

"We can only have 11 on the pitch and seven on the bench and I wasn't there," he said. "I want to play every game, in that way I was disappointed. You're not a player if you are not disappointed when you don't play. That shows that I am ambitious and I want to play every game.

"The last couple of games I did play and I want to work and do everything to play as many games this season as possible. That depends on my performances. Performances this season, probably a couple of good ones and a couple where I could have done better. We are training every day to get our performances at a top level."

Pochettino blamed last week's embarrassing defeat to League Two Colchester in the League Cup on "different agendas" in the squad and has admitted the slow start to the season is down to an unsettling summer.

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"The mood is good," said Vertonghen, who insisted Spurs' squad has not "gone stale". "It was a good win for us [against Southampton] on Saturday. It wasn't the easiest. If you go down to 10 men, and they score for 1-1, and we showed who we really are after that.

"We fought, we stuck together, there was a great buzz at half-time and after the game. We showed we want to fight and we can fight. And we did. We showed who we are. We can dominate games and we can fight as well. That was a good feeling to see that. Those players on the pitch were ready to fight for everyone in the dressing room, the staff, the fans in the stadium.

"We improved every year. If you look at last year, we went to Champions League Final. Some new players came in, that keeps it fresh. I don't share that feeling [that the squad has gone stale] at all. I see a lot of joy in the dressing room and when we go out on the pitch for every single training session.

"I can only speak for myself but from what I see from the group, everyone enjoys playing here every day."

In his first season at the club, Spurs played faced against Panathinaikos, Maribor, Lazio in the Uefa Cup, a stark contrast to Tuesday's match against five-time European Cup winners Bayern at their magnificent new stadium.

"We've come a long way," Vertonghen said. "We shouldn't forget that. We've worked very hard to reach that stage. That's the perfect example of how well we've done over the past six or seven years."