Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp insists there is no point overhauling rules on "tapping up" because players have always known which clubs are interested in signing them.
Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie has been quoted suggesting illegal approaches are rife, and there are other claims of his club being unhappy with Spurs signing Peter Crouch when others were willing to pay more money for the striker.
Redknapp argues the role of agents means players always know which teams are interested in their signature.
"Every club lets a player know that they're interested and anyone who says they don't is telling lies," he said.
"It's not a case of tapping a player up, it's a case of the agent ringing up and asking if you're interested.
"The message gets back to the player that the club is interested and then he makes up his mind where he wants to go.
"We had a deal for Darren Bent with Stoke for £15million but Darren wanted to go to Sunderland so what can you do? We were willing to pay £10million for Peter and Sunderland were willing to pay £12million but Peter didn't want to go to Sunderland. It happens in every transfer.
"There was no tapping up or anything else. They've all got agents, the agents talk to the people at the football club and he (Crouch) ended up going to Tottenham."
One school of thought is to scrap the rules on approaching players who have a contract at another club - but Redknapp feels it would not change much.
"It wouldn't make any difference, really," he said. "You're not going to get players out of Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea or Arsenal. You're only going to be dealing in the same market, really."
A drawback to the current system is that managers such as Redknapp regularly get offered unsuitable players.
"You get offered more c*** than you have ever seen in your life," he said.
"You say 'look, we're in the Premier League, not the Conference. We're Tottenham'.
"You choose a player but then it's only a decision of whether your club can afford them, and the chairman or chief-ex comes back and says he's too expensive or 'yeah, I've done a deal with them'."
Redknapp's men are looking to build on Sunday's win over Liverpool when they travel to Hull, with Vedran Corluka set to start at centre-back as Ledley King will rest his knee, joining Jonathan Woodgate and Michael Dawson on the sidelines.
"It's been a good start," he said. "We've had a great run and we're looking upwards. It's a fickle game and opinions change - one week you get beat and you're rubbish. It was a nice game on Sunday but we move on now."
Redknapp insisted Jermaine Jenas and David Bentley had futures at the club despite being linked with Aston Villa. The Spurs boss also admitted he cannot follow up his interest in David James while he has two goalkeepers at White Hart Lane.
Redknapp started the Barclays Premier League campaign with Heurelho Gomes in goal against Liverpool and Carlo Cudicini as back-up, meaning his priorities lie elsewhere ahead of the transfer window closing.
"Anyone would want him but I have two keepers and I cannot take another one," Redknapp said. "If I didn't have a goalkeeper he would be top of my list. I'm okay in that position."
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