Earlier this week, we relayed in an interview with former Inter Milan defender Luca Caldirola, who revealed that he had a chance to sign for Tottenham when he was a teenager (Instagram Livestream on Casa Di Marzio via Passione Inter).
The Italian revealed that he was a big Spurs fan and but his parents stopped him from joining the North Londoners.
Iranian legend Mehdi Mahdavikia has now also opened up on his regrets over a failed move to Tottenham.
The 42-year-old, who was one of the most capped players in his country’s history, spent almost the entirety of his career playing in the Bundesliga.
However, the former defender admitted that things could have turned out so differently for him as he had signed a contract with Tottenham before moving to Germany.
He revealed that the move to Spurs fell through due to the fact that a certificate wasn’t issued despite him completing his mandatory military service in Iran.
While he admitted that issues pushed him into a depression but insisted that he had no regrets over how his career trajectory panned out in the end.
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Speaking to Tehran Times, Mahdavikia said: “This is the first time that I’m talking about this. After Tottenham’s offer, we went to London and even signed a three-year contract with the club.
“But there was a clause in the contract that I would join the London club after completing my military duty in Iran, but at the end, my certificate was not issued and I could not go to Tottenham.
“After a while, the representatives of Hamburger SV came to Tehran to sign a contract with me, but again at that time, I could not join the German team due to the same problem.
“These issues caused me to become so depressed and I got fat. However, in the end, fate led me to German football. To play and to live in Germany have been one of the best parts of my life.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Seeing as he moved to Hamburg in 1999, it looks like that was around the time when Tottenham likely made their approach. Our defence was pretty poor back then and there is no doubt that Mahdavikia would have proved a useful addition for us given his versatility if we had managed to get the deal over the line.
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