Spurs: 10 Players You Didn't Know Tottenham Almost Signed

7. Gheorghe Hagi

In 1994, when Spurs had already signed Romanian forward Illie Dumitrescu for £2.6 million, they were also after one of his fellow countrymen - the footballing legend that is Gheorghe Hagi. At the time, Hagi was plying his trade for Italian club Brescia. They had been relegated in his first season in Italy and he had remained with them to help them get promoted back to Serie A, but his form in the World Cup was attracting the attention of a number of clubs. Spurs were one of them - and they came incredibly close to signing him, after Alan Sugar had flown to Italy to speak to his representatives - but he opted to go to Barcelona, despite the fact that he had been playing for their arch-rivals Real Madrid directly prior to his two year spell at Brescia. Hagi was 29 at the time and in his playing prime. What he would have done for Spurs and their profile is, without doubt, a source of wonder for the club's fans and, with the Lilwhites going on to sign Gheorghe Popescu a couple of months after Hagi had turned them down, they could have had quite the Romanian contingent in the mid-1990s.