Striker with 142 career goals admits he wanted Spurs move but also had his doubts

Zenit St Petersburg striker Artem Dzyuba has admitted that he wanted to complete a move to Tottenham back in the January transfer window.

Dzyuba has been prolific in front of goal for Zenit since joining the club from Spartak Moscow in 2015.

The 31-year-old is currently enjoying another fine season for the club, with 13 goals and 11 assists to his name so far this campaign (transfermarkt). He has 142 goals in 415 games across his career (Wikipedia).

The Russian international, who led the line for his country in the 2018 World Cup, revealed a few days ago that Spurs wanted him in January as a replacement for the injured Harry Kane. Everton have also apparently previously tried to sign him (Russia 24 as relayed by Daily Mail).

Now the 31-year-old has explained how he is likely to stay put in Russia after Zenit blocked his chance to go to England.

The 6ft 5in striker claimed that, while he wanted to complete a move to Spurs, he did have doubts about whether he could succeed in North London.

Speaking to Sport Express (as translated by HITC), Dzyuba said: “There has been a conversation about the new contract for a long time.

“To be more precise, we were talking about it after the match with Krasnodar, when we drew 1-1. Or maybe even a little earlier. Then everything was specifically discussed.”

“Since I can’t leave for England … No for China. To Turkey? I do not think that it is better there than in Russia. England is a dream. But it doesn’t work out now. My land is Russia. Here is my energy.

“Such a state of mind that I should be in Russia. If it were to happen, then I would leave. Of course, I wanted to try at Tottenham Hotspur, but such thoughts visited me; what if it doesn’t work out? I understand that Zenit was not interested.”

Spurs Web Opinion

It sounds like our failure to sign a striker last month wasn’t due to a lack of trying. A part of me is glad that we decided to wait till the summer rather than signing someone who wasn’t going to be quite good enough for a team with our aspirations in the long term.

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