Hertha Berlin striker Krzystztof Piatek said that he turned down the chance to sign for Tottenham Hotspur before completing a £27 million move to Germany in January 2020, while speaking to Prawdu Fotbolu.
After losing talisman Harry Kane for nearly three months to a serious hamstring injury, Spurs had no choice but to target a new number nine as Jose Mourinho’s debut campaign at the helm threatened to unravel.
But, after failing to lure Olivier Giroud away from Chelsea and hitting a brick wall in their pursuit of Willian Jose, Piatek would also slip through the net.
Tottenham wanted to sign the Poland international on an 18-month loan deal.
According to the man himself, however, Spurs failed to match the offer put on the table by an ambitious, big-spending Hertha side willing to pay £27 million to make him their new record signing.
“Hertha’s was not the only offer. AC Milan also received a proposal from Tottenham, a loan for 18 months. I would have replaced the injured Kane for the first three months,” said Piatek, via Tuttomercatoweb.
“But Hertha’s offer was different, they were much more determined (than Tottenham). Hertha bought me outright and got me to sign a four-and-a-half year contract. They showed great determination.”
In truth, Piatek has done little in Germany to suggest that he would have had Kane fretting about his role as Mourinho’s go-to goal-scorer.
In 39 Bundesliga matches, Piatek has scored just ten goals, with an expensively-assembled Hertha side teetering nervously around the relegation zone.
Was that stunning spell at Genoa in the first half of 2018/19, in which he scored in his first seven Serie A games while equalling Gabriel Batistuta’s long-standing record, merely a flash in the pan?
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