Tottenham reportedly came agonisingly close to signing Moussa Dembele last January, before later missing out and seeing him join Celtic.
The 20-year-old has proven to be a major hit at Celtic, scoring 27 goals and providing six assists in 41 appearances in all competitions, and in turn has been linked with a big-money move back to England in the future.
According to Get West London, Tottenham saw a £6m deal for him last January break down as despite agreeing on the fee and personal terms, he later failed a medical.
Having since gone on to set the Scottish league alight, his valuation would have rocketed with talk that the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid wish to sign but it will cost them in the region of £40m to snap him up from Celtic, as per the report.
It has proven to be costly for Fulham too, as they received a mere £500,000 in compensation for him when he moved to Celtic after his contract had expired, and so they’ve essentially missed out on £5.5m after the collapse of the move to Spurs.
Whatever it was that bothered Tottenham in that medical evidently didn’t concern Celtic too much, and with the benefit of hindsight, it looks as though it was the wrong decision.
Particularly given that Mauricio Pochettino hasn’t had the goals required from back-up star Vincent Janssen this season, he would be given a major boost with a player like Dembele at the club. However, that wasn’t to be and so if they remain keen on the youngster, they’ll have to battle with a host of other clubs with that £6m fee now rising to something close to £40m.