New stadium crucial to Tottenham ambitions says former captain Ledley King

Spurs looking to build 56,000-seat arena to replace White Hart Lane

Ledley King believes Tottenham will have a better chance of attracting elite players to the club if they make progress with their plans to build a new stadium.

The Northumberland Development Project, which would see a 56,000-seat arena replace White Hart Lane, is a principal objective of Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, who is determined to deliver the new ground during his time at the club.

Work has begun on the project and club officials will have been interested to read this week's landmark report, which urged the Government, City Hall and Haringey Council to inject more funds to regenerate the Tottenham area.

With its capacity of 36,000, White Hart Lane lags behind the homes of Europe's top clubs and former captain King, now a Spurs ambassador following his retirement, understands the significance of pushing ahead with the new ground.

"It's important," he said. "The new training ground that we moved to during the summer is one of the best I've seen and improvements like these take me back to the decision I had to make as a young player.

"I was at Leyton Orient before I moved to Tottenham and the facilities at Spurs made me want to come and be part of this club. There is an emphasis on bringing top young players to the club, so a training ground and a new stadium can only help in that respect."

Regular Champions League football would also push Spurs along that route so with home games against Swansea and Stoke coming up, Andre Villas-Boas's team must get back to winning ways following their defeat at Everton last weekend