The 34-year-old has already added midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson and centre-back Jan Vertonghen to his squad but revealed that further movement in the market first depends on players leaving White Hart Lane.

Luka Modric is expected to leave the club before the end of the summer, with Real Madrid the Croatia international’s most likely destination, while a number of fringe players such as Giovani dos Santos and Steven Pienaar could be shown the exit door.

Villas-Boas told Sky Sports News: "I think the team is going in the right direction, but we want to make it stronger. Eventually we will go to the market when we think it is appropriate.

"There will not be a lot of changes, but steadily we will bring in players."

The Portuguese took charge of Spurs for the first time on Wednesday night, with Sigurdsson scoring on his debut and 22-year-old Iago Falque grabbing a late second in a 2-0 pre-season win over League One outfit Stevenage.

And Villas-Boas is keen to use the summer friendlies to gain a better understanding of the players at his disposal to see who are capable of first-team exposure next season.

"We have started assessing the squad. We have got a big squad," he said.

"We have had a lot of interest in our players, but I think it is the time to make the right decisions and we use these games to make those decisions."