During the build-up to Saturday evening’s FA Cup sixth round clash between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United at the Molineux, midfielder Joao Moutinho was in front of the press and he revealed that he almost signed for Tottenham Hotspur earlier in his career.
The 32-year-old has quickly become a fan favourite at the Wolves following his summer switch from Monaco for a snip £5million fee and ahead of Saturday’s action he bosts 34 appearances in our shirt with one goal returned having established himself as a key part of head coach Nuno Espirito Santo’s first team squad.
Speaking to the Mirror he confirmed that it had always been his ‘mission’ to play in the English top flight and the deal was signed with Spurs back in 2012 when Andre Villas-Boas was manager, but the paperwork went through one minute too late as the deadline shut.
“It’s been close before but it was my mission to play in the Premier League. I’ve had one or two opportunities in the past. The first was Everton, the second Spurs. I am in the room but the next day I had a game in Portugal, it didn’t happen, it was one minute from happening… I had actually signed but it was one minute past the deadline. You carry on, you continue to do what you like and what I like to do is to play football.”
Their loss was certainly our gain even if we had to wait a few years to acquire his services.
