Former Tottenham Hotspur striker, Mido has revealed that Martin Jol stopped him from completing a potential transfer to Manchester City in 2007.
Mido arrived at Spurs from Roma in the January of 2004 with a big reputation and made a decent impact in North London.
While the striker’s goal numbers during his two and a half years at White Hart Lane are not particularly impressive, he was unplayable on occasions, with his physicality often making him a nightmare for defenders to play against.
The Egyptian international eventually fell down the pecking order and left to join Middlesbrough in the summer of 2007 after the arrival of Darren Bent, with Spurs already boasting the likes of Dimitar Berbatov, Robbie Keane and Jermaine Defoe in their ranks.
However, Mido has now revealed that he could have joined Man City in the January of 2007, with the deal having been agreed before Spurs blocked the move.
He told KingFut: “Martin Jol blocked my move to Man City after I reached an agreement with Stuart Pearce, their coach back then.
“That came after I’d played against Arsenal in the Carling Cup and scored a goal.
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“There was an agreement – but Jol told me that he couldn’t let me leave after that performance.
“After that, I was about to play the main role – but got an injury setback that kept me out of playing for a long period.”
Mido never managed to get his career back on track after leaving Tottenham and was not helped by consistent injury problems.
The former Spurs striker revealed that Middlesbrough were not completely honest with him and that he made a mistake by moving to the Riverside stadium.
He added: “Steve Bruce was Birmingham’s manager back then, and he wanted to sign me.
“But Boro were UEFA Cup finalists, and in the top ten – maybe top six – in the league back then. Also, the contract was very good.
“I wasn’t lucky at the club, because they were experiencing a bad time after their peak.
“I think even until now the club hasn’t recovered from what happened then.
“Yakubu, Mark Viduka and many [other] big names left that summer, and the club changed its plan with a new young coach in Gareth Southgate.
“The coach’s lack of experience and the big names leaving set Middlesbrough on a declining curve. They still haven’t healed from that period.
“I didn’t know before accepting to join them that they would decline like that.
“The club wasn’t honest with me that they were going to cut their budget at once, set free all the big names and get a young coach, which was the owner’s decision.
“I made a big mistake leaving Spurs for Middlesbrough. I wasn’t patient enough to play a match and not play the next one.
“I should have been more patient. Joining Boro wasn’t the right decision to take at that time.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Manchester City were a lower mid-table club back then and it was only after they were first acquired by Thaksin Shinawatra and then by the Abu Dhabi group, that they became a force. Most players, if faced with a choice between City and Boro in 2007, would have picked the latter. It is a shame that Mido never really managed to fulfil his potential as he had all the attributes to thrive in English football.
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