Spurs spent £6.25 million on Postiga in 2003 but gave up him one season later.
What has his career taken in since? Look no further…
Portuguese striker Helder Postiga was snapped up nine years ago by then Spurs manager Glenn Hoddle, who saw him at Europe’s next big thing.
He had come off a impressive season at Porto where he scored 19 goals in all competitions, at the young age of 20 under the management of Jose Mourinho.
“He is a player who will add definite striking quality to our squad,” said Hoddle, adding, “I’m sure our supporters will enjoy watching him over the coming seasons.”
They didn’t, because just one year later he was sold back to Porto, in a deal which saw Spurs sign midfielder Pedro Mendes, ‘scorer’ of the famous ghost goal at Old Trafford, in exchange.
So what went wrong? Like so many foreign strikers, he simply failed to settle, and failed to adapt to the Premier League.
He scored a paltry one goal in 19 appearances, and found himself behind Frederic Kanoute and Robbie Keane in the queue for first team places, and that was before the club signed Jermain Defoe in the January transfer window.
Hoddle was sacked in September, and David Pleat took the reins, but could only lead the club to a disappointing 14th place finish.
So he returned to Porto, who by that time were Champions League winners, and Mourinho had since taken charge at Chelsea, but not before he scored a vital equaliser to break English hearts.
At Euro 2004 he scored a late equaliser for Portugal, with the game looking to be heading for an England win. Portugal went onto win on penalties, and Spurs fans scratching their heads at what they had just seen.
After returning to Porto, he simply never enjoyed the same success as before he left, scoring only three goals, and mid-way through the next season, he was dispatched on loan to French side St Etienne, which proved to be equally unsuccessful, scoring just twice.
His 2006-07 season was an improvement, he netted 12 times back at Porto, but fell out of favour the next season, and was loaned to Greek side Panathaniakos midway through the season.
He then went onto make a surprise move to Portuguese rivals Sporting Lisbon, but this proved to be fruitless too. He almost completed the 2009-10 season without scoring a single goal, netting just once.
This season, he finally moved on, after just 18 goals in three season at the club, signing for Spanish side Real Zaragoza for just £1 million
Finally, he has had something of an upturn in fortune scoring nine times, including this sensational bicycle kick against Rayo Vallecano.
His performances have been enough to see him called into the Portugal squad for Euro 2012, and aged 29 we may just see him re-establish himself as the striker he was always intended to be.
What do you remember of Postiga’s spell in England?
images: © myeralan, © OliverN5
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