Tottenham star Mousa Dembele won't join a rival team

Mousa Dembele has said he will definitely not join another English club if he leaves Tottenham this summer, revealing: “Spurs is my team.”

Dembele has entered the final 12 months of his contract and Tottenham are expected to reluctantly listen to offers for the 30-year-old, who has ­indicated that he is unlikely to agree a new deal.

The Belgium international, who is currently in Russia for the World Cup, is attracting interest from Italy and China, but says his future remains undecided.

“I won’t say that I’m leaving Spurs right now. Or that I’m staying,” Dembele told Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Niews. “If I leave, I won’t join another English club. Spurs is my team.”

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Dembele also admitted to conversations with team-mates Axel Witsel and Yannick Carrasco about playing in China, and Laurent Ciman about ­moving to MLS.

The midfielder believes the physical demands of the Premier League are close to becoming too much and he has been concerned about how long it took him to recover from injuries last ­season.

Both the Chinese Super League and MLS are considerably slower and less physical than the English top-flight, while there is genuine interest in Dembele from Italian clubs Juventus, Napoli and Inter Milan.

Spurs have put a £30million asking price on Dembele and they would prefer to sell him to a Chinese club, who are less likely to play hard-ball in negotiations. Spurs paid Fulham £15million for Dembele in 2012 and they would like to make a profit on the player.