It is better to miss out on signing top players than not challenging for them at all, says Tottenham's managing director of football Fabio Paratici.
Spurs were close to signing Luis Diaz and Adama Traore during the January transfer window before they joined Liverpool and Barcelona, respectively.
But Paratici did manage to secure deals for Juventus pair Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski on deadline day.
"The worst and strange thing is not being in the race," he told Spurs TV.
"Sometimes you win, as what happened with (Cristian) Romero in the summer, and sometimes you can lose the race.