In this article, we provide to you our top 5 picks of players who we believe left Tottenham Hotspur too soon.
Pat Jennings
Pat Jennings might just be one of the few players whom fans of both Spurs and Arsenal would consider a legend for their respective clubs.
The Northern Irishman first joined Tottenham from rival London club Watford in 1964 and would go on to represent them for 13 years, making over 500 appearances, before moving to Arsenal at the age of 33. Hardly anyone would have imagined at the time that he would go on to play for another eight years, representing the Gunners nearly 300 times in that time. Jennings even returned to Tottenham in 1985 for a brief period to keep maintain his fitness ahead of the 1986 World Cup.
Peter Crouch
Crouch was quite the journeyman in the Premier League, so it’s easy to forget where he actually began. He came through the Spurs academy, but after a couple of loan spells he was deemed surplus to requirements and sent back to QPR, whose academy he spent time at as well.
The would-be Premier League centurion then had to make his way up, eventually returning to Tottenham in 2009 for €10.5 million owing to his time with Harry Redknapp during their previous club, Portsmouth.
Crouch’s overall record for Spurs across all competitions reads: 93 games, 24 goals, 21 assists.
Jermain Defoe
Ranking ninth in the Premier League’s all-time top-scorers list, Defoe’s dealings with Tottenham were also affected by Harry Redknapp, who first poached him away from White Hart Lane and brought him to Portsmouth, before bringing him back to Tottenham when he became their manager.
Over three different spells at Spurs, Defoe scored 143 goals and provided 31 assists in 363 games.
Marcus Edwards
This diminutive winger hardly got any chances when he was at Tottenham. Having graduated from their academy, Edwards moved to Portugal in pursuit of regular game time, joining Vitória de Guimarães.
After impressing for Vitória, he was picked up by Sporting for €7.75 million in January 2022, and since then he has gone on to become one of the most exciting prospects in the Primeira Liga and has consistently been linked with return to England.
Noni Madueke
Madueke left Spurs before his senior career began as he moved to the Netherlands in 2018, joining the PSV academy. He then broke through the senior ranks in Eindhoven and quickly established himself as one of the most exciting wingers in the Dutch topflight, which prompted Chelsea to bring him back to London last summer in a €35m move.
If his recent hat-trick against Wolves is anything to go by, Madueke is destined to go to the very top, and Spurs might wish they would have tried a little harder to convince him to stay.
What do you think of our picks? Do you think there’s someone we missed that deserves a shout-out here? Let us know in the comments.
