Revealed: Tottenham wanted to sign Frenkie de Jong in 2019
According to L’Equipe (h/t Football.london), Tottenham wanted to sign Frenkie de Jong back in 2019. Former Barcelona Technical Secretary Eric Abidal revealed that Tottenham were also interested in the Dutch youngster before he eventually joined Barcelona.
Abidal named four clubs that were in the hunt for the former Ajax man but was confident that Barca would eventually sign him.
“I was already following Frenkie before arriving at the club. We had to recruit for this position and that was our priority. Manchester City, Paris, Bayern and Tottenham made good progress on the matter. But we are Barca and we knew that his dream was to play for us.”
Frenkie de Jong has gone on to establish himself as one of the best young midfielders in the game. He is perhaps one of the few shining lights in this gloomy Barcelona team. Ever since his time at Ajax, De Jong has been one of the best midfielders to emerge in Europe. He is, in footballing terms, a press resistant midfielder. There’s a certain joy in watching him play in midfield.
Capable of resisting the press from opposition players despite not being the largest of men, his passing and control of the ball are a throwback to the glory days of Barcelona. However, it would have been interesting to see Frenkie play for Tottenham in the Premier League.
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It would be hard to label this a missed opportunity by Spurs given Frenkie always wanted to play for Barcelona. Also, Barcelona and Ajax have a shared history, which meant that De Jong was always likely to head towards the Catalan giants.
