Cheikhou Kouyate has been slightly under-appreciated in the Premier League. The Senegal international has been a very good player, first for West Ham, and now for Crystal Palace.
The midfielder is nearing 200 games in the Premier League now but Kouyate has claimed that he could well have played a good chunk of those games for a top English side.
In an interview with Belgian outlet DH, the Crystal Palace man claimed that Tottenham were interested in signing him when he was at West Ham but Slavan Bilic managed to keep hold of him.
Kouyate said: “Tottenham wanted to sign me. I was being pushed to go there, but I hesitated. Slaven Bilić was my manager and wanted to keep me at West Ham, who were offering me a great contract.”
“We’d come out of a good season after often being in the relegation zone. I preferred to stay. I changed clubs a bit later. Maybe too late. I could tell that to a young player: a big club doesn’t always come twice”.
Kouyate could have been a good signing for Pochettino
Kouyate didn’t specify the year when Spurs wanted him but based on his words, it should either be the summer of 2015 or 2016. Mauricio Pochettino was Tottenham’s boss then and the Senegalese international could well have thrived under him.
The Palace man’s words show that he does regret not joining Tottenham now. A move to North London could’ve taken his career to a different place but he should be proud of playing almost 200 Premier League games in over six years for two different clubs.
Spurs wouldn’t be too fussed about missing out on Kouyate. Pochettino took them to new heights with the team he had and Tottenham fans could not be more grateful.
Now under Mourinho, Tottenham fans will be hoping that their trophy drought will come to an end. A player like Kouyate would have been an interesting option to the Spurs boss who likes a strong, ball-winning number six, but his current set of midfielders are arguably a lot better.
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