Troy Deeney has revealed just how close he came to joining Tottenham.
It was the summer of 2020 and Watford had just been relegated after five years in the Premier League.
Deeney had scored 47 goals in 165 Premier League matches for the Hornets, but at the age of 32 and facing a return to the EFL, the striker was met with a surprise opportunity.
The striker was linked with surprise moves to Arsenal and Tottenham, not only giving the chance to play in the top flight again, but also the opportunity to experience Europa League football.
Reflecting on the interest, Deeney was aware that he was never going to be a regular starter, but spoke of how such an opportunity would have been too good to turn down.
Asked if he spoke to Mikel Arteta or Jose Mourinho directly, Deeney told talkSPORT.com: “No, not Arteta. I had a chat with Mourinho but he wanted the boy, Carlos Vinicius.
“I didn’t speak to Arteta, that was more of a board-level discussion and how could we make it happen.
“Obviously because I wasn’t going to start at any of these places, it was like ‘yeah, no problem, as long as he’s not a d*** basically’.
“With Mourinho, they wanted the striker, Carlos Vinicius,
“So he was their main target, and if that doesn’t happen, then we’ll bring Troy in.
“I had a chat with him, and it was like, what do you want to do? How do you want to do it? Would you be able to go from being a main man to one of the squad?
“Obviously I was the main man at Watford, and I was captain and I said ‘look, if I get the opportunity to play, then I’ll play’.
3
3
“Do you remember the big Spanish striker that went there from Swansea [Fernando Llorente]? He kept scoring didn’t he, every time, in the League Cup and I thought if I can do that, my job’s good.
“I said, all I’m going to do is push Harry [Kane] to be the best that he can, and be his biggest cheerleader because playing for Spurs was massively beyond my dreams.”
Unfortunately for Deeney, Tottenham pressed ahead with their move to sign Vinicius with the Brazilian striker joining on a season-long loan deal with the option of a £36million move.
He only managed one Premier League goal and also scored an FA Cup hat-trick against Marine.
However, he didn’t do enough to earn a move and found himself on loan at PSV Eindhoven the next season, before eventually joining Fulham.
Vinicius is now on loan at Galatasaray from the Cottagers.
As for Arsenal, they opted not to sign a striker that summer but did bring in Willian on a free transfer to bolster their attacking options.
For Deeney, he spent one final season with Watford and scored seven goals in 19 games to help the Hornets to promotion in an injury-hit campaign.
He left the club in 2021 as their fourth-highest goalscorer of all-time and their top goalscorer in Premier League history.
Deeney went on to spend two seasons with boyhood club Birmingham City, before joining Forest Green Rovers where he also moved into management for the first time.
