Lisandro Lopez says he was close to joining Tottenham Hotspur.
Lisandro Lopez has told Identidad Racinguista that he was close to joining Tottenham Hotspur during Andre Villas-Boas’s reign in North London.
The Argentina international replaced Karim Benzema at Lyon in 2009 and went on to emerge as one of the best strikers in France, netting 59 times in 119 Ligue 1 outings.
Lopez, now 35, joined a Qatar-based club in 2013, but was he supposed to join Tottenham prior to that? According to the man himself, yes.
The Racing Club de Avellaneda hitman says that he had agreed a transfer to Spurs, only for Lyon chairman Jean-Michel Aulas to intervene and block the switch.
He told Identidad Racinguista: “A week from the end of the transfer window, Villas-Boas called me to play for Tottenham. We agreed everything, and the chairman again shut the door.
“That’s when I learnt that AVB had made an offer for me with Chelsea, but no one ever told me. I was so disappointed that I promised myself to never play in Europe again.”
This was 2013, so Tottenham, who only had Emmanuel Adebayor, Roberto Soldado and a very raw Harry Kane, could’ve done with the additional firepower from Lopez.
The North Londoners would finish sixth in the Premier League table under Tim Sherwood, after Villas-Boas was fired in the previous December.
Lopez, once valued at £20 million [Transfermarkt], has nine goals in 11 Argentina Superliga games this season.
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