Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino claims that he was extremely disappointed with Gylfi Sigurdsson’s exit from the club, but he also admitted that Spurs were left with little option, reports Daily Mail. The Icelandic international spent two seasons at White Hart Lane before moving to Swansea City in 2014. Even though his time with Spurs may have been short, he was one of the impetus to make the grade. At 27 years of age, Sigurdsson is now at the peak of his career and Swansea are able to reap the full benefits of his quality.
There is no doubt about Swansea’s ability to sustain their Premier league status even after an extremely disappointing 2015-16 season. And this was largely down to the brilliance of Sigurdsson.
After coming into the English league through Reading, Sigurdsson made the short trip to Germany in order to play for Hoffenheim. The Icelandic international, though, was brought back to English football by Tottenham. The club certainly did not regret signing the player for around £8.8 million. André Villas-Boas was the manager responsible for identifying Sigurdsson as a player who can make an impact in the Spurs team. Even though the former Chelsea boss did not last long in the dugout, Sigurdsson seemed destined for an iconic status at the club.
Numerous managerial changes at the club saw Mauricio Pochettino appointed as the new boss a few years ago. One of his first decision was to sell Sigurdsson to Swansea City for around £10 million.
Just as Pochettino prepares his team to face Swansea this weekend, he has revealed that the decision to sell Sigurdsson was extremely hard and that he regrets it even now. Speaking ahead of the weekend’s match, Pochettino said:
“After he moved to Swansea, we saw his development at Swansea — he was a perfect player for us. But in that moment it was the club decision and his decision to move to Swansea and find another way.
“Every time we meet him and see him he shows his quality, not only as a player but like a man. All the people here talk very highly about him.
“It’s a shame but sometimes in football you never what will happen in the future. No regret, there is nothing you can do about that.”
Pochettino has even gone on to reveal that he was not behind the decision to sell the player. Club’s sporting director Franco Baldini is thought to have played a key role in deciding against keeping Sigurdsson. The decision by the sporting director now looks like a wrong move. Sigurdsson has been fantastic for Swansea even though the club have been struggling with the possibility of relegation.
The club finally managed to end a winless run that had been in place since the opening day of the season. They did so in brilliant fashion after a 5-4 victory over Crystal Palace in remarkable circumstances. Since this was the first win of the Bob Bradley regime, the team will be coming in with a lot of confidence. His impressive performance against Crystal Palace saw Sigurdsson take his tally to 4 goals and four assists in just 13 league outings.
