The forward won over 100 caps for the Netherlands and played nearly 300 times for the Reds.
Former Liverpool hero Dirk Kuyt has revealed to FourFourTwo that he turned down the opportunity to join Tottenham Hotspur a year before he moved to Anfield.
Kuyt was a relatively unknown quantity outside of his native Netherlands until the last 18 months or so of his spell with Feyenoord, for whom he broke the 20-goal mark in each of his three seasons.
Amid rumours linking him with a move to several English clubs, he ultimately joined Liverpool in 2006 and would be a huge part of the Reds side for the next six years, scoring 71 goals in 286 games.
The 36-year-old, who has since returned to captain his former club Feyenoord, also became a Dutch centurion in 2014 and retired from Netherlands duty with 104 caps later that year.
It could all have been very different for the star, however, as he revealed that he came close to joining Tottenham Hotspur – then managed by his compatriot Martin Jol – on transfer deadline day a year before his move to Anfield.
Kuyt told FourFourTwo: “A year before I went to Liverpool, I had the opportunity to go to Spurs, where the manager, Martin Jol, and chairman, Daniel Levy, expressed an interest. But it was on transfer deadline day, and at that time I didn’t want to move.
“Later on, Liverpool became the number one club who wanted me, although all the negotiations took a while. Other clubs showed an interest too, such as Atletico Madrid.
“That’s also a nice club, but once I’d heard of Liverpool’s interest, it was the only club I wanted to go to. From a young age I’d always liked Liverpool.”
Of course, it would be speculative to try to imagine what impact Kuyt would have made at White Hart Lane had he made that 2005 move, but if his legacy at Liverpool is anything to go by, Spurs fans may be chagrined to hear of how they missed out.
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