Former Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor has revealed that Tottenham made an approach to sign him in 2010 but he rejected the move since he believed it would be a sideways step.
Agbonlahor had a good record against Tottenham and his pace constantly troubled the likes of Michael Dawson at the back for many years.
However, it turns out that the former England international had an opportunity to wear the famous Lilywhite jersey.
Tottenham beat Villa as well as Liverpool and Manchester City to finish fourth in the 2009/10 season and qualified for the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.
The Villains’ demise arguable began at the end of that season when the club parted ways with manager Martin O’Neill.
Agbonlahor revealed that it was then that Tottenham made their play to try and bring him to North London but he insisted that he was never going to leave his boyhood club.
Speaking to The Athletic, he said: “There were serious options about moving at various times. It was the season that Martin O’Neill left when Spurs came in for me.
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“I discussed it with my agent and we agreed that Spurs were a big club, but it didn’t feel right. I was in the Villa team every week, getting into the England squad and it’s my home team who I supported.
“Back then, Spurs were only on a par with us. They also had four brilliant strikers, so why would I want to move?
“My love for Villa was too strong. It wasn’t really an option. I nipped it in the bud. It wasn’t an option for me.
“Why would I want to move sideways? I was enjoying my time at Villa so it wasn’t something I wanted to do.”
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I am not surprised that Harry Redknapp wanted to bring Agbonlahor in despite having the likes of Robbie Keane, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe in the squad, as the former Spurs boss did like to have a lot of options up front.
However, we are fortunate that the Villa man rejected the move as I doubt we would have bought Van der Vaart in had he agreed to join.
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