Skip to content

Spurs watched North East stars

Image: Harry Redknapp: Scouts were watching Hatem Ben Arfa and Stephane Sessegnon

Sunderland star Stephane Sessegnon and Newcastle forward Hatem Ben Arfa could have been Tottenham players, according to Harry Redknapp.

Redknapp decided to stick with Defoe and Van der Vaart

Sunderland star Stephane Sessegnon and Newcastle forward Hatem Ben Arfa could have been Tottenham players, according to Harry Redknapp. The White Hart Lane boss claims his scouts were watching the pair in the past, but they were not considered to be better players than the likes of Jermain Defoe and Rafael van der Vaart. Former Spurs striker Roman Pavlyuchenko was another reason why Redknapp decided not to spend money on Sessegnon, previously at Paris Saint Germain, and former Marseille man Ben Arfa. But the Tottenham manager is an admirer, as he is quoted as saying by London24: "We could have had Sessegnon at one time, I think. "The people who work for me weren't really convinced at the time. They were watching him and they didn't feel that he was any better than what we had, in all honesty.

Problem

"We still had Pavlyuchenko here, and Defoe. But he is a talent, there's no doubt about that, a really good player in behind the striker. "The boy at Newcastle's a good player as well, he's a talent, Ben Arfa. He's similar, another good little dribbler. "We probably could have had him as well, but you can't take everyone can you? You end up with dozens of players hanging around, and we've got good players here anyway so he might not have got in our team. "Do I regret not taking Sessegnon? Not really. He's a good little player, but I've got Van der Vaart. You're just going to cause yourself a bigger problem. "Rafa plays there, really, in behind the striker, and he's not going to be happy sitting around and not playing. "Rafa scores goals and makes goals. He's a top player, so you can't just say, 'oh I'll have him, and him'. Some football clubs end up with too many and all you have is problems."

Around Sky