Harry Redknapp has revealed that he was close to signing Arsenal legend, Patrick Vieira, and ex-Liverpool star, Luis Suarez, during his managerial days at White Hart Lane.
Now manager at Queens Park Rangers, Redknapp enjoyed a brilliant spell in North London with Spurs, guiding them to the Champions League, but after falling out with officials behind the scenes over the vacant England job, Redknapp left his post and then later missed out on the England job to Roy Hodgson.
However, in a recent interview, the R’s boss has revealed that he was close to making a sensational signing, by bringing Vieira to White Hart Lane.
“Patrick Vieira was a different type of midfield player and one every club would like to take now,” Redknapp wrote in his new book A Man Walks On To a Pitch.
“He almost came to me at Tottenham from Inter Milan. I thought it was an incredible decision by him, after he’d been such a hero at Arsenal.
“I met him at his house in Hampstead and he had no fear about what people would think or what reception he would get. He had enough confidence in his ability to just brush it away.
“I remember talking to Daniel Levy, our chairman, about him. He said the crowd would be hostile. I knew that – but if he had enough bottle to want to put on our white shirt after all that had gone before, I thought it said something about the man.”
Redknapp then revealed he was also close to signing Suarez from Ajax.
He added: “Despite all that has happened in his career since, one of the biggest regrets of my life in management is not taking Luis Suarez to Tottenham when we had the chance.
“You’ve got to take him, Harry,’ Ruud Gullit told me. ‘He’s fantastic.’
“Yet all of our scouts’ reports said that at Ajax he played wide off a striker, whereas we were looking for a proper front man.”
“Just when I was on the verge of taking the plunge, the price went up.
“In the end he was sold for £22.8 million to Liverpool. We wouldn’t have paid that.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles
