Tottenham have made an underwhelming start to the season and are currently sitting in sixth in the Premier League standings.
A comprehensive defeat in the north London derby and an embarrassing loss at Vitesse last week are some of the early blows that new manager Nuno Espirito Santo has suffered.
Lamela stressed that Spurs are still a good side with a number of quality young players but they will need time to develop as they are at the start of a fresh project at the club.
However, he insisted that Spurs have a squad with great potential and with time they are going to improve.
“They have a very good team, a lot of young players”, Lamela told The Times.
“They changed a lot of the team since I was there and it’s a new project and sometimes new projects need a lot of time, but in football you never have time to build: you always have to win.
“This is the difficult thing.
“But I believe Tottenham is a great team, with a great squad, a lot of potential and, in the future, is going to be better.”
Tottenham beat Burnley on Wednesday night to make it to the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup.
The north London club will host Manchester United on Saturday in what could turn out to be a consequential game for this season’s Premier League.
