Former striker reveals that he regrets being unable to prove his worth to the Spurs fans

Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Souleymane Coulibaly has claimed that he could have still been at the club if he had been there when Mauricio Pochettino was in charge.

Coulibaly joined Spurs in 2011 when as a 16-year-old he moved to White Hart Lane, having previously played for Italian club AC Siena’s youth team.

He caught the eye during the 2011 Under-17 World Cup where he scored nine goals in four games for his country, including two hat-tricks, one against Brazil and bagged four goals against Denmark (BBC).

Having played with Kane during the academy set-up, the Englishman has gone on to become one of the top strikers in the world while Coulibaly now lines up for Tunisian side Etoile du Sahel, having also had spells at the likes of Kilmarnock, Al Ahly and Partick Thistle.

Now 25, Coulibaly looks back upon his time at Tottenham with a regret of not having made a senior first-team appearance and believes his future could have been different if under the Argentine.

“If I had the chance, like a lot of people had at Tottenham, I don’t think I’d be here,” Coulibaly told The Set Pieces.

“I’d be playing first team in Tottenham because I know my ability. I know what I’ve got in my locker. If I was there when Mauricio Pochettino came, who knows?

“But it didn’t happen, so that’s why I’m here. I was expected to play in the Premier League for Tottenham, to help them achieve whatever they wanted. But, you know, football is like this. Sometimes you go down, sometimes you go up. The best way is to keep going. That’s what I’m doing.”

He added: “The only regret I have is not playing for the club because they did everything for me,”

“They helped me a lot, even when I was sick. I went on holiday to the Ivory Coast and I was sick. Tottenham brought me back and helped me. I was trying to give back the help they gave me by trying to play for the first team one day.

“But I trained with a lot of good players and learned from them. That was the most important thing for me personally. You take that experience and try to move on. I don’t regret my career. I just regret not giving back what the Tottenham fans were expecting of me.”