Jose Mourinho wanted to sign Russia international Artem Dzyuba to replace Harry Kane at Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur, according to the striker’s agent Leonid Goldman.
Spurs went into the 2020 January transfer window desperate to sign a new number nine after Kane was ruled out for the long term with a serious hamstring injury.
Chelsea, on the other hand, had no intention of allowing Olivier Giroud to join a London rival. Willian Jose was also not allowed to leave Real Sociedad. When Spurs attempted to entice the colossal Dzyuba to England, Zenit St Petersburg refused to let their talismanic centre-forward leave midway through their title defence.
Leonid Goldman narrated the story to Sport24:
“Early January, I flew away on New Year’s Eve. Lying on the beach, (I received) a call from colleagues from the (Jorge) Mendes agency in Portugal.”
“(They said); ‘Kane is broken. Mourinho wants to buy a replacement – Dziuba’. I called Artem. He did not even believe at first. I said: ‘Everything is extremely serious, go talk to Zenit.’
“The club immediately made it clear that they would not let go of their leader in the middle of the season, so there was no specific documented offer. But the story of Tottenham’s interest is a billion per cent true.”
Dzyuba, of course, would have been the best example of a short-term, temporary fix. He did, however, score 21 goals for Zenit that season. Who knows if Dzyuba would have helped Tottenham close the six-point gap that separated them from the Champions League places at the end of that season.
Dzyuba, now 31, joined Turkish outfit Adana Demirspor earlier this month, scoring on his debut against Fenerbahce.
I smell bull****