Harry Redknapp has claimed that Eden Hazard was ready to join Tottenham Hotspur from Lille but Daniel Levy refused the sanction the deal, instead allowing Chelsea to swoop for the winger.
Eden Hazard was close to joining Tottenham
Hazard is widely viewed as one of the best players in Premier League history, with the wideman playing 352 times for the Blues and scoring 110 goals.
He proved instrumental in two league title wins for the West London club but it turns out that history could have been a lot different as the player could have easily ended up at Tottenham.
Hazard was heavily linked with a move to White Hart Lane ahead of the summer transfer window in 2012 (Daily Mail) prior to his switch to Stamford Bridge during the same window.
A few years ago, the Belgian international’s agent, John Bico had told DH (via Sport Witness) that his client was prepared to move to Spurs that summer but changed his mind after seeing Luka Modric depart the club.
Harry Redknapp admits to illegal meeting with Eden Hazard
Redknapp has also spoken about the failed move in the past, previously telling BBC’s Sacked in the Morning podcast that Levy failed to pay the £16m fee that it would have taken to land Hazard from Lille.
When asked about Tottenham’s failed move for the Chelsea legend and quizzed about whether he was at odds with Levy regarding the transfer decisions, Redknapp has now told The Fighting Cock: “My relationship with Daniel was good. I honestly never had a problem with Daniel. But as you say, no disrespect to Ryan and Louis, they were both good people, great players over the years.
“But I felt we needed to push on but at that time the club didn’t want to invest and spend that money. So, it didn’t happen. They were the players I wanted to bring in.
“I went over to watch him [Hazard] play, I think went over three times to France and got to meet him in a hotel room. Completely illegal I know, he wanted to come to Tottenham, I wanted him desperately.
“I thought he was a genius. Joe Cole had rung me and said Harry I’m playing with the best player I’ve ever played with here [at Lille] and that’s when I first went over to watch him. But Daniel at the time, or the club didn’t want to sign him and that’s how it goes.”
When asked if Hazard wanted to come to Spurs, the 77-year-old responded: “Oh yeah, at that time, yeah. It didn’t happen and then obviously Chelsea came in later.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I absolutely adore Harry but we all know he tends to play fast and loose with the facts. It is difficult to know exactly what led to us missing out on Hazard that summer but a crucial factor might have been our failure to qualify for the Champions League.
We should have quite easily finished in the top three but ended up finishing fourth that season, with Chelsea, who had finished in seventh place, fluking their way to a Champions League win, thus qualifying at our expense and subsequently beating us to Hazard’s signature.