Former Tottenham midfielder Lewis Holtby has revealed that he came close to joining Everton just over a year after signing for Spurs.
After Holtby enjoyed a couple of excellent seasons at Schalke and broke into the German national side, Spurs snapped him in the January of 2013.
The midfielder impressed under Andre Villas-Boas during his first six months at White Hart Lane but he was one of several players who struggled in the 2013-14 season.
Villas-Boas was sacked midway into the campaign, with Tim Sherwood being handed the reigns until the end of the season.
That proved to be the start of the end of Holtby’s Spurs career as he was loaned to Fulham for the second half of the 2013-14 season.
The midfielder then had a loan spell at Hamburg before being permanently sold to the Bundesliga club in the summer of 2015 for a free of £4.6m.
Holtby’s career has since not delivered what it promised, with the midfielder being part of the Hamburg side that were relegated in 2018.
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The 31-year-old then returned to England for a spell with Blackburn Rovers in the Championship and left Ewood Park at the end of last season.
Holtby, who now plays for German second-tier side Holstein Kiel, has opened up on how close he came to a move to Goodison Park in 2014.
He told SHZ: “I came close once (to joining Everton) – in 2014, but for various reasons, the transfer didn’t happen.
“That would’ve been cool. Everton is my childhood sweetheart, my number one. The club my father and I supported.
“But I had the honour of playing there with Tottenham in my career. That was a great experience.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I always had a soft spot for Holtby and I expected him to achieve much more at Spurs than he did. Not only did he have a silky left-foot but his work rate was excellent and he also played with his heart on his sleeve.
Unfortunately, the timing of his move to Tottenham proved his undoing, not just because of the managerial reshuffle but also since we brought in Gylfi Sigurdsson and Chrisitan Eriksen not soon after.
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