Going back in time a bit further than the previous entries on this list, we come to a time when Brazilian legend Rivaldo was in his prime. It was 2002, the superstar was in his thirtieth year and was still widely regarded as one of the best players on the planet, Spurs Chairman Daniel Levy actually flew out to Spain to meet the Brazilian who was with Barcelona at the time in order to try to persuade him to join the White Hart Lane club on a free transfer. He joined AC Milan instead and the rest is history, but he admitted that he was quite close to joining Spurs and said I was very excited about the possibility of playing for Spurs and in England. I would like to thank the club for their efforts in trying to sign me. It goes without saying that it must be a killer for Spurs to realise how close they got to signing such a huge player like Rivaldo, as he would undoubtedly have brought a lot to Spurs - talent, for starters and, perhaps more important, a raising in profile that could have still been benefiting the club to this day.
