Eden Hazard’s former agent, John Bico, has revealed that the Belgian winger would have joined Tottenham in 2012 if Daniel Levy had given the player assurances that Luka Modric and Gareth Bale were going to stay at the club.
Hazard was heavily linked with a move to Tottenham ahead of the summer transfer window in 2012 but it was Chelsea who won the race to snap him up from Lille.
The Belgian went on to be a top player for Chelsea, helping the club to two Premier League titles and proved to be a thorn in Tottenham’s side on many occasions.
However, things could have been quite different, with former Spurs boss Harry Redknapp also admitting that Hazard had agreed to come to White Hart Lane before he decided to go to Stamford Bridge instead.
Luka Modric left Tottenham to join Real Madrid in 2012 before Spurs also sold Gareth Bale to Los Blancos for a then world-record fee the subsequent year.
Bico has now revealed that Hazard was keen on joining Spurs back then and would have made the move to N17 had Levy promised him that the pair would stay at the club.
He told Belgium publication DH (as relayed by Sport Witness): “You have to remember that Tottenham at the time played the best football in England and even in Europe.
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“The team was exceptional: Walker, Parker, Modric, Bale, Defoe. Except Daniel Levy was too honest to guarantee that Bale and Modric were going to stay.
“If Bale and Modric had stayed, Eden would have gone to Tottenham.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Levy had fought tooth and nail to keep Modric from Chelsea’s grasp the previous summer, promising the Croatian that he would not stand in his way if Real Madrid or Barcelona came calling in the future.
That was probably why the Spurs chairman could not make a promise to Hazard regarding Modric’s future.
I also think that Chelsea winning the Champions League in 2012 had a major impact on Hazard’s decision as that meant that the Blues qualified for the CL at Tottenham expense despite the North Londoners finishing fourth that season.
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