Paris-Saint Germain manager Mauricio Pochettino has revealed how close Tottenham Hotspur came to signing Achraf Hakimi while he was in charge of the North Londoners.
Pochettino finally managed to land the right-back this summer in an initial £51.3million deal from Inter Milan (Sky Sports).
The Argentine admitted that he had been tracking the progress of the Moroccan international, who began his career at Real Madrid and was close to bringing him to Tottenham, only for the defender to instead join Borussia Dortmund on a two-year loan deal.
Tottenham made moves in the transfer market for a right-back of their own this summer, having recruited Emerson Royal from Barcelona for £21.3million.
“Achraf is a young player [I have] been following since [I was] at Tottenham,” Pochettino told UEFA.
“We were on the edge of signing him for Tottenham, but then he went to play for Dortmund.
“He has a great capacity to run, his physical potential is huge. He is young, he’s maturing at the defensive level, but he makes a lot of contributions in attack.”
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Pochettino was blessed with the likes of Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier on the right side of his defence, and Hakimi would have been the perfect replacement for Walker who decided to head to Manchester City.
Spurs fans will be hoping that Emerson Royal can help to add an attacking threat to the
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