Tottenham Hotspur have not improved over the last few years.
The North Londoners showed signs of promise under both Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte following Mauricio Pochettino’s departure, but both of those stories ended badly.
There was hope that things would get better under Ange Postecoglou, but unless he wins the Europa League, it will be a repeat of what happened under Mourinho and Conte.
Tottenham should’ve been in a much better position now, but some of their decisions over the last few years have cost them.
One of them was exposed in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Tottenham’s Raphinha decision in 2022 was a big error
Raphinha was at Leeds United until the end of the 2021/22 season, and everyone in the Premier League knew how good he was.
The Brazilian produced several exceptional performances for the Whites, and several big clubs were chasing him at the end of that season.
One of the teams interested in Raphinha was Tottenham, who were keen to sign either him or Richarlison during the 2022 transfer window.
Paul O’Keefe revealed that Spurs were ready to bid for both players, but they only wanted to sign one of them for the attacking role.
Reports at the time even claimed that Tottenham had directly told Leeds United that they would bid for Raphinha, but they never did.
Barcelona then made their move for the winger and won the race to sign him. The Brazil international has been sensational for them since. Spurs signed Richarlison instead in that window.
Not going all out for Raphinha in 2022 was a big mistake by Tottenham. The 28-year-old has scored 32 goals and provided 25 assists for Barca this season – more than every Spurs player.
Raphinha even scored for Barcelona against Inter Milan in the Champions League semi-final on Tuesday night.
Even though his side crashed out of the competition, everyone will agree that he has been one of the best players in the tournament, having scored 13 goals and provided nine assists in 14 games.
The reason why Tottenham did not make an official bid for Raphinha
Raphinha had plenty of suitors in the summer of 2023.
Chelsea were very keen to sign the Brazilian, while Arsenal even tabled an official bid to bring Raphinha to the Emirates Stadium.
Spurs definitely had an interest, but they refused to make an offer for one reason – Daniel Levy did not want to get into a bidding war for Raphinha.
That’s according to Fabrizio Romano, who said at the time: “Tottenham – they are really interested in Raphinha. They are discussing with Leeds a potential verbal proposal.
“I understand that Antonio Conte is a big fan of the player. But, at the same point, they know that it is a really complicated deal with many clubs in it.
“Tottenham don’t want to pay crazy money, they want to pay the right money and they don’t want to enter a bidding war. This is why all the talks are verbal on Tottenham’s side.”
