Tottenham astonishingly beat 60 clubs to sign in-demand starlet

The representative of one of Tottenham’s newest signings has lifted the lid on the intense transfer battle that developed for his client, revealing that the player chose Spurs despite receiving an astonishing number of offers in January.

Tottenham sign highly-rated teenager Mason Melia

While most of the attention on deadline day and immediately after it was consumed by Tottenham’s late deal for Mathys Tel, the Lilywhites also quietly managed to snare a number of talented young players for the academy in the dying hours of the window.

The most high-profile of these captures is young forward Mason Melia, who was signed from Irish side St Patrick’s Athletic for an initial fee of €2m (£1.6m), which could rise to €4m (£3.3m) including add-ons.

It emerged over the last 48 hours that Tottenham saw off competition from the likes of Man City and Chelsea to land the 17-year-old, but the player’s agent has now revealed that the interest in his client did not stop there.

Mason Melia’s agent reveals Tottenham beat 60 clubs

Melia is managed by his uncle, Clive Clarke, who is a former Premier League and Republic of Ireland international left-back.

Clarke explained that his nephew had already been to Hotspur Way before and revealed that he chose Tottenham from around 60 different offers that he received.

When asked about Melia’s switch to Spurs, Clarke told RTE Radio 1 Morning Ireland (via Football.London): “It’s through Mason’s hard work that it has been able to happen. He went over to Spurs three years ago [to visit], it’s a club he thinks very fondly of. We probably had 50 or 60 offers throughout Europe.

“The likes of Celtic have come really strongly and pushed really hard for him. You can only pick one club and he chose Spurs. We decided to make it happen and it’s all done now.”

This shows the pull Tottenham have for young players

This is further evidenced on the back of Spurs’ capture of the likes of Tel, Bergvall, Gray, Dragusin, and others that talented young players are extremely attracted by the project underway at N17.

Ange Postecoglou has proven that he is willing to trust teenagers if they are good enough and many top prospects around the world have seen that there is now a very open and clear pathway to the first team at Hotspur Way.

This will be of huge help to Johan Lange and Tottenham’s recruitment team when trying to bring the best young talent to the club’s academy.

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