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ORLANDO -- Jan Vertonghen has told ESPN FC in an exclusive interview that Tottenham need to "level up" if they want to go one better and win the Premier League title next season. Last season's second-place finish was Tottenham's highest in the Premier League era and they also clinched a record points total after winning 11 of their final 12 matches. But while all of Spurs' rivals have strengthened this summer, Mauricio Pochettino is the only Premier League manager yet to add a new signing, while the club sold Kyle Walker to top-six rivals Manchester City for £50 million. Centre-half Vertonghen insists Spurs can win the league next term, despite having to play all their home matches at Wembley, but he said their existing players must step up a level. "The way our rivals are strengthening this season, we need to be aware of that and we need to level up as well," Vertonghen told ESPN FC. "I'm not saying with new players, but we need to take our levels up and I think we can. I'm the oldest outfield player in the team and I feel very fit. The younger guys can improve even more. It can definitely be our year and we want it to be our year. "Luckily we almost kept everyone from this year. Obviously the window is not closed yet but if we can keep these guys, we can do the same thing again. It'll be a bit harder because we play at Wembley! [The pitch] is a lot bigger but the training pitches have already been adapted. "Don't underestimate the leaders we have in the dressing room," he added. "Harry Kane is definitely one, Hugo [Lloris] is captain and we have guys like [Victor] Wanyama, the defenders. We haven't got that outspoken guy who does the crazy one-liners but if necessary we can be hard on each other in the dressing room but not so much to the outside world -- that's true." Vertonghen also backed his Belgium teammate and friend Romelu Lukaku to be "special" at Manchester United after he found the net against Manchester City in Houston on Thursday. "It's going to be special. I can call him a friend. He's a good guy, we've got a very good relationship and above all he is a good player. I think he suits Man United," Vertonghen said. Last year, Lukaku scored in Everton's 3-2 defeat at Spurs in March after Vertonghen slipped when one-on-one with the £75m forward. The Spurs man says Lukaku is one of the hardest players to face as part of Tottenham's high defensive line, but he insisted the system is essential to success under manager Mauricio Pochettino. "You saw his goal yesterday against Man City and that's his way: balls in behind. He's the guy that makes you think 'This is going to be some game' if you keep that high line and keep letting in balls in behind. You know there's going to be one-on-one situations there!" Asked about Pochettino's commitment to the high line, Vertonghen said: "When he came, that's the first thing he said. That he wanted us to press a lot higher -- to help the strikers, help the midfielders and help ourselves in the end. "In the beginning, we struggled a bit because you think, 'What if they put in a ball behind?' You play against strikers against Lukaku, who have a lot of pace. But he convinced us and we got used to it. If you see our record last year and how many goals we conceded with balls over our head, we haven't [been vulnerable]. "So it was the right way, we started believing him. You need to be very fit to do it -- that's what we're working on here. In the end, it really helps the strikers and midfielders because there is so much space. I think the strikers are very happy that we play that way now. "He works the whole back four a lot. He's a centre-back -- I had [former Ajax manager] Frank de Boer also in Holland who was a centre-back -- and it helps you a lot. "First of all you believe him that that is the right way to play, and he knows how to create exercises to play in that way. He works a lot with videos as well. "We work a lot -- 80 percent of the time -- on that high-line because it's so important to our game. We started again this preseason. It can always be better, sometimes it just doesn't connect. It's so important to the way we play."
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