Whilst Luis Suarez was still playing his football for Ajax, Tottenham Hotspur were actually interested in pipping Liverpool to the striker.
Harry Redknapp was Tottenham manager at the time, and Suarez was causing quite a stir with his goalscoring in the Eredivisie.
Of course, it’s no secret that Spurs’ interest in the Uruguayan didn’t result in a move – Suarez instead became one of the best players in Liverpool’s history.
In 133 games for Tottenham’s Premier League rivals, Suarez scored 82 goals and provided 31 assists, also yielding an impressive 25 yellow cards.
Against Spurs, Suarez scored four goals in eight matches for Liverpool, but had Redknapp got his way, the saga could have played out very differently.
Harry Redknapp thought Tottenham could win the league with Luis Suarez
Throwing it back to 2011, Redknapp was keen to sign Suarez in order to secure a finish in the Champions League spots for Tottenham.
Suarez’s club Ajax were reportedly in debt at the time and were willing to accept a £15m bid for the striker.
READ MORE: What Harry Redknapp predicted when Tottenham first appointed Ange Postecoglou in 2023
Perhaps to Redknapp’s frustration, Spurs signed Louis Saha for free from Everton instead on deadline day of that January window.
Since, speaking to talkSPORT, Redknapp said that Suarez was the striker Tottenham would have bought had they invested, a striker he believed he could spark a title-challenge.
Redknapp said: “I took Louis Saha and Ryan Nelsen on free transfers – we were short, we had injuries at centre half and I had no striker.
“If we had gone out [and invested] then… Luis Suarez was a player that we were looking at.
“We were right down the road with [Eden] Hazard and Luis Suarez was the best player in the Premier League a few years ago when he was at Liverpool, he was fantastic.
“If we just got one of those in, we had a team that could have challenged for the title.”
Tottenham signed Louis Saha instead of Luis Suarez
In terms of Saha’s efforts at Tottenham, the striker scored four goals in 12 games for the north Londoners in a six-month spell.
Spurs then allowed Saha to leave for Sunderland – he didn’t quite go on to enjoy the same success as Suarez from that point.
Interestingly, that was at a similar time to when Tottenham wanted Sergio Aguero, another striker who might have thrived under Redknapp.
Sadly, those two scenarios will always remain a case of what could have been in N17.
And Tottenham fans seem very keen that their club and Levy start to change that tune with immediate effect in the transfer market.
