Arsenal have to be the transfer yardstick, admits Spurs chairman Levy

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• More Premier League news club by club

The manner of recruiting the Spaniard was criticised at the time, but there has been no arguing with the results as Spurs ended their nine-year trophy drought with the Carling Cup.

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Shrewd: Daniel Levy wants to follow Arsenal's example in the transfer market

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy describes Ramos as "obsessed with winning".

"If you believe you can be successful, you've got more chance than if you don't," he said.

"It's very important to have a leader who really believes he can deliver success - because that filters through. We did not anticipate winning a cup so early. But Juande is highly intelligent, a real motivator - and it's all about the team, not him. I didn't realise the extent to which he's obsessed with winning."

Levy also discussed transfer policy and looked towards Arsenal as an example of shrewd investment.

"It's not about how much you spend on players - it's how you spend it," he added. "Arsenal are the best example of being incredibly skilful in acquiring younger players or doing certain transfers that have not cost a lot of money.

"Over the years, they've spent considerably less money than us on a net basis - but look at the success they've had."

Spurs bought Darren Bent in a £16.5million deal from Charlton last summer, but the striker has struggled to make an impact - with Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane hitting the 40-goal mark as a partnership.

"Sometimes in transfers you have to take opportunities when they present themselves. It was never a case, as some people are suggesting, of spending the money on a striker without being able to bring in anyone else," Levy points out.

"One of the reasons we decided to bring him [Bent] in was that we believed one of our other strikers [Jermain Defoe] may be going. Okay, it didn't happen at the time. But we took the view we wanted a target man - and there are not that many.

"We knew were paying a full price but we were competing with a lot of other clubs and took a long-term view."