The 21-year-old spent three years at White Hart Lane before leaving in 2014.
Souleymane Coulibaly
Two years after leaving Tottenham, Souleymane Coulibaly has explained to The Scottish Sun why he picked a move to White Hart Lane over four of Europe’s biggest clubs, including Real Madrid.
In 2011, the striker appeared to be one of the brightest prospects in the game. At that year’s under-17 World Cup, Coulibaly finished as the tournament’s top goalscorer, scoring an incredible nine goals in just four matches for the Ivory Coast.
Understandably therefore, some of the best teams on the continent were looking to snap him up. And after outlining exactly which clubs were hoping to bag his signature, he disclosed the reason that he chose Spurs over all of them, even after a trip to the Bernabeu.
“A lot of teams wanted me after that – Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona even Real Madrid. When you score a lot of goals clubs around the world are interested,” he told The Scottish Sun.
“I went to the Bernabeu but didn’t sign. Jose Mourinho was manager at the time but I didn’t meet him.
“I walked around the pitch and looked around the trophy room. That was an amazing experience as a 16-year-old but was all in the hands of my Italian agent.
“The choice was to sign for Spurs because they moved quickly. Tim Sherwood was the manager and he helped me a lot along with Les Ferdinand and Chris Ramsey.”
Unfortunately for the 21-year-old, he failed to reach the heights that many expected of him following his move to Spurs, and he left for Bari three years later having not played a single game for the first-team.
He did return to England last summer, joining Peterborough United, but after a mixed time at London Road – which included a loan spell with Newport County – Coulibaly was allowed to join Kilmarnock earlier this summer.
And he will be hoping to use his time in the Scottish Premiership to prove that some of the qualities that the European heavyweights saw in him five years ago are still there.
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