Former Spurs scout says club were close to two big names | OneFootball

From February 2017 until February 2022, former professional footballer, Steve Hitchen, was the chief scout at Tottenham Hotspur, replacing Paul Mitchell, whom had fallen out with Daniel Levy.

During his time at Spurs, Hitchen came under plenty of criticism from the fans - particularly after the release of the "All or Nothing" Amazon documentary, where he confessed to hating the January transfer window - with plenty of people mentioning that it was his job.

Steve Hitchen explains that Spurs were close to two signings

In a recent interview, the 48-year old has said that the club were close to signing Frenkie de Jong and Jack Grealish during his time in North London: "We [Tottenham] were very close to getting Jack Grealish, which probably would have been of the best [signings you could make]. Jack Grealish was a Tottenham [type of] player. He would have set the place alight. He had the skills, he would have got fans off their seats. He would have been a [the] difference in that time.

We had Dele Alli at that time, and I think them two would have pushed each other as well. To miss out on that player was massive in that period."

And then we were really close to getting Frenkie de Jong - and I think, Frenkie de Jong, again, is a Tottenham player. I think he would have made a big difference for us. We had to replace the irreplaceable in [Mousa] Dembele. Probably Frenkie could have gone into that position and really succeeded at Spurs."

Most people are well aware of the fact that Spurs wanted to sign Grealish during his time at Aston Villa, but Levy lowballing (to make a change), with paltry offers such as £3 million and Josh Onomah meant it never happened. As for de Jong, however, this feels like quite fresh news that a lot of people will not have been aware of.

Out of all the players from that Ajax side that made the Champions League semi final in 2019, de Jong has probably been the best player since, albeit not as good as people were expecting him to be. He would have been a great signing for Spurs, though likely with seriously high wages. As in, not just high wages for someone stingy like Levy, but just in general pretty astronomical.

How many "nearly" signings have Spurs had in the past? It happens to every club, but it does feel like it happens here more than what you would usually expect.