The jaw-dropping XI of stars Tottenham almost signed under Daniel Levy
Tottenham Hotspur have been under the stewardship of Daniel Levy since 2001 – and they’ve missed out on some incredible players at the time.
Whether Levy haggled too much on a release clause or Spurs plumped for an alternative option, the north London club have dropped the ball on some generational talents.
We’ve compiled an XI of stars Spurs should’ve signed under Levy, lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
GK: David Raya
Raya reportedly agreed personal terms with Spurs in the summer of 2023 before the club decided to sign Guglielmo Vicario instead.
Spurs were unwilling to pay Brentford’s £40million asking price for the Spaniard, who ended up joining bitter rivals Arsenal instead.
While Vicario has gradually metamorphosed into a shaky goalkeeper, Raya has enjoyed two impressive seasons at the Emirates.
RB: Jules Kounde
Back in 2021, Spurs were heavily interested in signing Kounde from Sevilla.
The France international was reportedly open to joining the club, but Levy opted to invest in Emerson Royal instead and Kounde eventually joined Barcelona a year later.
Now regarded as one of Europe’s finest defenders, Kounde is part of a Barca team aiming to win the treble in 2024-25. Spurs struggle on with Pedro Porro.
CB: Kim Min-jae
With South Korean icon Son Heung-min already at the club, Spurs were confident of signing his international team-mate Kim in 2022.
But the centre-back chose to move to Napoli instead as he wanted a team with more continuity.
Spurs eventually brought in Clement Lenglet instead, who was emphatically unimpressive during his year’s loan spell in north London.
CB: Milan Skriniar
Linked with Tottenham once again in 2025, it’s hoped that Levy is more successful in luring the defender to England than he was five years ago.
Jose Mourinho identified the Slovakia defender as his preferred signing at centre-back in 2020, but Spurs were unwilling to meet the £55million valuation set by Inter Milan.
The arrival of Joe Rodon for £11million later in that window was grimly predictable; Rodon is now a Championship player at Leeds, while Skirniar has played for several of Europe’s top clubs.
LB: Filip Kostic
Fresh from winning the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022, knocking out Spurs’ London rivals West Ham along the way, Kostic was linked with a move to north London.
Antonio Conte was looking to freshen his squad before their Champions League return and targeted the Serbia international for his crossing ability.
Predictably, Levy was unwilling to fork out £25million for a 29-year-old and Kostic eventually ended up at Juventus.
Spurs signed Ivan Perisic instead; a superior player even if he was injury-prone and on high wages.
CM: Bruno Fernandes
In the summer of 2019, a deal that would have reshaped the Premier League collapsed and left one of Europe’s most sought-after midfielders heartbroken.
Bruno Fernandes, then at Sporting Lisbon, was set to join Spurs fresh after their Champions League final appearance under Mauricio Pochettino.
Despite agreeing on a transfer fee, Tottenham and Sporting were unable to finalise the deal, leaving Fernandes in Portugal for six more months.
He joined Manchester United in January 2020 and has become one of the best midfielders of his generation.
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CM: Joao Moutinho
Despite getting an hour’s extension past the transfer deadline in order to complete the transfer of Moutinho from Porto in 2012, Spurs could not get the deal over the line.
He was a principal target of Andre Villas-Boas’ after Luka Modric had been sold.
A fee of £24million and personal terms were agreed, but the deal couldn’t be completed before the deadline.
“We were covered for the fact it could not happen bearing in mind it was a difficult club to deal with and would have been a club record fee,” Villas-Boas said.
“We have cover enough and Moutinho’s transfer not happening should not overshadow that we got one of the biggest coups of the transfer market with (Clint) Dempsey.”
At least Spurs signed Mousa Dembele a couple of days beforehand, which worked out pretty well.
RW: Eden Hazard
Having reportedly also rejected both Manchester clubs, Hazard claimed he had considered an approach by Spurs in 2012 but decided against it after they dropped out of the Champions League.
“It’s true that Tottenham tempted me because it was a young team which was third in the league,” Hazard said.
“Unfortunately, the end of the season did not go well. They did not reach the Champions League, which tipped the balance.”
Spurs signed Gylfi Sigurdsson and Clint Dempsey that summer in their long pursuit of a No.10 before well and truly solving their creativity problems when they signed Eriksen the following year.
CAM: Rivaldo
Rivaldo had been made available for a free transfer as Barcelona looked to cut their wage bill in 2002, with Levy flying out to Spain in an attempt to court the Brazilian.
“This illustrates the high nature of our ambition and the fact that we prefer to operate away from the spotlight,” manager Glenn Hoddle said.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t happen this time, but the search goes on.”
Rivaldo chose to join AC Milan, and Hoddle said he even received a letter from the forward explaining his decision.
Spurs did sign another world-class out-of-contract playmaker that summer at least… Milenko Acimovic.
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LW: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
That sound you can hear soundtracking PSG’s Champions League matches this season is the weeping of Tottenham fans mourning what they could’ve had.
The performances of Kvaratskhelia have electrified a continent growing increasingly bored with micro-managed football.
But Spurs could’ve signed the Georgia international years before he broke through at Napoli.
“Clubs were not so secure to spend this €20m on a player who they did not have much background information on because he was not coming from a big football country,” his agent said in November 2024.
“He was not coming from Brazil, for example.”
Still only 24, Kvaratskhelia is now worth north of £100million since his move to PSG in January 2025.
ST: Sergio Aguero
Aguero scored 12 goals in 18 games against Tottenham during his days with Manchester City, netting 260 in total.
It’s hard to imagine the diminutive striker playing for another English club, but Levy pushed hard for his signature back in 2011.
Spurs reportedly had a £38.5m bid rejected for Aguero, even though it met the release clause figure in the striker’s contract.
Although Tottenham matched Aguero’s buy-out clause, Atletico still wanted add-ons to take the deal higher.
Therefore, Spurs decided to move on, meaning that Aguero was then free to join their Premier League rivals later that year.
Reportedly, manager Harry Redknapp wanted to sign Diego Forlan for £10million instead but Levy vetoed the move because of the player’s age.