Tottenham Hotspur reportedly plan to raise upwards of £170 million through selling Danny Rose, Toby Alderweireld, Mousa Dembele and Victor Wanyama in order to fund their transfer activity this summer. 

According to MailOnline's David Kent, Spurs are prepared to "sacrifice" the quartet and expect to be able to fetch in the region of £50 million each for Rose, Wanyama and Alderweireld, while Dembele—who has just one year left on his deal—could be sold for a fee in excess of £20 million.

Rose's form and fitness have been lacking this season. While out with a knee injury last summer, the left-back was critical of Spurs' transfer policy and spoke of his desire to earn a bigger salary, as well as move to a northern club before the end of his career, in an interview with The Sun.

Alderweireld is one of the Premier League's best centre-backs, but he has been injured for much of the campaign and will have a release clause of just £25 million next year, so while there is no easy solution to the situation, selling him this summer would at least allow Spurs to demand a much higher fee.

Dembele has yet to negotiate a new deal at the club, and if that remains the case, he would be able to leave for free next year.

Given the resources available to their competitors, manager Mauricio Pochettino has helped Spurs punch above their weight in recent seasons and turned them into serial UEFA Champions League qualifiers, for which he deserves credit.

However, they have fallen short of winning the Premier League title, and they have also been unable to pick up silverware in any of the cup competitions.

The Mail on Sunday's Oliver Holt believes greater investment is needed if Spurs are to improve in that regard, while Matt Law of the Telegraph called on them to make better recruitment decisions:

Having a transfer kitty in the region of £170 million could help, and there would be some logic in letting three of the four players mentioned in the report leave this summer.

However, given their talent, replacing them with players of similar quality will be difficult enough. To do that and simultaneously improve the squad will be even harder.