Jol's fury at Benitez's comments

Defoe is struggling to win a regular first-team place at Spurs

Tottenham manager Martin Jol has hit out at Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez for unsettling striker Jermain Defoe.

The two clubs have been at loggerheads ever since Djibril Cisse's agent claimed he would be off to Spurs.

Benitez had said Tottenham were "desperate" to sell England striker Defoe, who has struggled for first-team football at White Hart Lane.

Jol said: "It's bad enough when agents spread rumours but this was totally unnecessary coming from a club."

Jol blasted any talk of Defoe leaving Tottenham as "ludicrous."

He said: "I hear there are suggestions that we tried to swap Jermain for Cisse in January and keep trying to - I have never heard such rubbish.

"Why on earth would we have been interested in letting a striker as good as Jermain go in January when we were actually looking to add another striker?

"If other managers are interested in my players - and let's face it they will be, I have good players and Jermain is one of them - then they know the proper way to go about asking. And we can politely say no."

Benitez has refused to apologise for his comments after being asked to do so by Spurs chairman Daniel Levy.

Speaking after Saturday's 3-1 win over Everton, the Liverpool boss claimed Levy had been the one acting unprofessionally.

He said: "The problem is I have a good memory and he cannot remember when he talks to agents about these things.

"But I can remember and I have talked to agents and they tell me what has been said.

"I remember because I am professional and he is not professional. He must think about what he said to agents. That is all I want to say, it is very clear."

Levy had said: "There is no element of truth in the claim. It is unprecedented that any manager should comment in this way on another team's player.

"It could be interpreted as a blatant attempt to unsettle Jermain. I expect Mr Benitez to withdraw his wholly inappropriate and inaccurate comments."

Spurs have also been linked to a swap deal involving Defoe and Manchester United striker Louis Saha.

But Defoe insists he's happy to stay at White Hart Lane and told the Sunday People: "I'll never go into the manager and ask for a transfer, that would be childish.

"Why should I ask for a transfer when, deep down, I don't want one?"