Former striker with 62 England caps admits he could have joined Tottenham
A striker who finished his career with over 500 Premier League appearances and 62 caps for England, has admitted that he could have joined Tottenham at a very young age.
There are a number of top players who have gotten away from Spurs during the Premier League era, with Tottenham supporters looking back and wondering ‘what if’.
Tottenham missed out on the likes of Luiz Suarez, Eden Hazard and Joao Moutinho, who ended up thriving in the Premier League at other clubs.
More recently, Tottenham also came close to signing Jack Grealish in 2018 before he exploded onto the Premier League stage with Aston Villa and eventually completed a £100m move to Man City.
Former England striker admits he had a chance to join Tottenham
Emile Heskey might not make anyone’s list of the top 10 or 15 strikers in Premier League history, but the centre-forward is undoubtedly an iconic name, forming some formidable strike partnerships with the likes of Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney for club and country.
The 47-year-old has now admitted that when he decided to leave Leicester in 2000, Tottenham Hotspur were one of the clubs who wanted him.
When asked about his big move to Liverpool from the Midlands, the former England striker said on the Football’s Greatest Podcast: “It’s a really successful time. You had there and then the move to Liverpool, £11m at a time. Well, that must have been mind-blowing for him. Was it 20, 21 years of age?
“Yeah. To be honest, from 16, I’d had, because you all know, because you play with the national team from a young age, you kind of get attached to someone. And I’d been looked at from the age of 16, but I wanted to play for Leicester. I wanted to establish myself. And I was on a bit of a roll there as well.
“But then you get to a point where you’ve, I’ve been in the four years, five years we’ve been to the playoff final and three League Cup finals. And you’re like, ‘what’s next?’ I was an international player by then as well.
“So you’re like, ‘okay, well, let’s have a look at where we can go next’. And that’s trying to win titles. Liverpool was my club and I could have gone to Villa, Tottenham, could have gone to Dortmund.”
Why Spurs fans may not regret failed Emile Heskey transfer
It is impossible to predict how different Heskey’s career and Tottenham’s trajectory would have been different had they been successful in signing the striker.
However, it is worth considering the fact that Tottenham boasted some outstanding strikers in the first decade of this millennium.
Perhaps some of those players, such as Robbie Keane and Teddy Sheringham (in his second spell), may not have been signed if Spurs had secured Heskey.
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