Juventus star midfielder Miralem Pjanic has revealed that Tottenham wanted to sign him as a replacement for Luka Modric in 2012.
Croatian ace Modric left Tottenham in acrimonious circumstances that summer, moving to Euro giants Real Madrid for a fee of around £30million.
And now Bosnia international Pjanic has revealed that the Lilywhites approached him as a possible replacement, while the 27-year-old was at Roma.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Pjanic said: “There was the opportunity but at that moment I told them I was happy where I was and that’s why we didn’t sign the deal. But I made my choice using my head and if I made that choice not to go to an English team it was for good reasons.”
The midfield maestro went on to play at Roma for four further years, making 185 appearances for the club before a £28million move to Juventus in the summer of 2016.
Pjanic has now made 75 appearances for the Bianconeri, and is expected to line up from the start as they meet Tottenham in the first-leg of their Champions League last-16 clash on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old is fan favourite in Turin, where he has earned the nickname ‘The Pianist’ for his control of their play in midfield.
OPINION
What a replacement Pjanic would have been for Modric, who Spurs replaced with Mousa Dembele and Gylfi Sigurdsson that summer. The Bosnian is one of the world’s best attacking midfielders at times, and would surely have lit up the Premier League for Spurs if he did take the chance to join. However, both parties went in different directions, and those paths have now led to their last-16 clash on Tuesday. Juventus come in with one of the world’s best defences, and Spurs with a dangerous attack, which sets the clash up to be a mouthwatering tie.