Manager reveals Spurs showed interest in 21-year-old but had ‘a lot of doubts’

Rubin Kazan head coach Leonid Slutsky has revealed that Tottenham showed interest in Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in the past but the North London club had ‘doubts’ over whether the winger would be able to make the required step up.

Kvaratskhelia rose to notoriety thanks to his impressive performances for Kazan but the winger terminated his contract following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and signed a two-year deal with Georgian club Dinamo Batumi (Il Mattino).

Spurs were backed to make a push for the 21-year-old during this summer’s transfer window (Gazzetta dello Sport) but he ended up completing a move to Napoli instead.

The 21-year-old has already made quite an impact since his switch to Naples, having notched up seven goal contributions in just nine appearances this season (Transermarkt).

Calciomercato reported earlier this month that Fabio Paratici wanted to take Kvaratskhelia to Spurs but the Premier League club only made a loan offer for the winger, which is what allowed Napoli to swoop for him.

Slutsky has now confirmed that Tottenham indeed had their eye on the Georgian international but he remarked that the club were not fully convinced by the player.

The Rubin Kazan boss said on the Here We Go Podcast: “After a very successful season with Rubin, there was a lot of gossip around him, and not only gossip – some clubs were really interested.

“But because of price… he’s not a cheap player. To me, it was normal money, but to be honest, for a young player, only after his first season… he didn’t have fantastic statistics. It was only four goals and three assists, which is not fantastic statistics.

“I think some clubs had a lot of doubts, especially a club like Tottenham. You usually bring in players who exactly will play in the starting XI immediately, you want to take players who are 100% in the starting XI.”

Spurs Web Opinion

While Kvaratskhelia’s talent was always obvious, the fears regarding his adaptability to the Premier League were not unfounded. The 21-year-old has a similar profile to Bryan Gil, and I am not convinced he would have hit the ground running at Spurs, as he has done at Napoli, if we had signed him.

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