Strike duo close to making White Hart Lane moves.
Former Tottenham manager Glenn Hoddle has revealed he came close to signing Samuel Eto’o and Fernando Morientes for the club.
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Hoddle joined Spurs from Southampton in March 2001 and says he wanted the duo to form a new strike force at White Hart Lane.
In summer 2011 Eto’o was plying his trade at Mallorca and Morientes at Real Madrid but both players were coming off the back of disappointing seasons and Hoddle was confident the deals could be done.
“Through my contacts in the game, I had lined up what I thought would be a pretty potent attacking force in SamuelEto’o and Spanish international centre-forward FernandoMorientes, who had a formidable goalscoring record in his prime,” Hoddle wrote in his column for Bleacher Report.
In a sly dig at current Spurs boss Tim Sherwood, with whom he has a long-running feud, Hoddle revealed that the deals broke down because of negative reports about the forwards, although he refused to implicate chairman Daniel Levy.
“I read recently in the Daily Mail that Tim Sherwood once scouted Luis Suarez for Harry Redknapp and came back with a report that put the club off buying him. I’ve no idea how accurate that report might be, but it made me think about the time I tried to sign Eto’o in his prime,” Hoddle continued.
“I suffered a similar thing with Eto’o and Morienties. There were negative reports about both, and the deals that I had set up fell apart.
“Before anyone jumps to conclusions, this is not something to which I am pointing a finger at the chairman Daniel Levy. I had a very good relationship with Daniel back then and still do.”
Spurs are set to replace Sherwood in the summer and in a not-so-subtle hint that he wants the job, former England boss Hoddle revealed he will always be passionate about the club.
“I would have helped him out by taking the Spurs job again if only until the end of the season if they’d needed me. I would never turn my back on Spurs—the club is in my blood.”