3. Rivaldo
Neal Simpson/EMPICS SportBack in 2002, when Rivaldo was in to his thirtieth year and was still widely considered to be one of the best footballers on the planet, Spurs Chairman Daniel Levy flew 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. Ultimately, Rivaldo would end up joining AC Milan instead, but he was apparently
quite close to being convinced to join Spurs, commenting that "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. The Spurs manager at the time was Glenn Hoddle - a man whose presence at the club must surely have been one of the draws for Rivaldo - and the former England manager said of the failed move that "we were close to getting him and I know that Daniel put in a supreme effort on our behalf. This illustrates the high nature of our ambition and the fact that we prefer to operate away from the spotlight. It goes without saying that a player of Rivaldo's quality would have been a major boost to our squad. There are not many players of that class in the world game so, when the chance of signing was there, we had to move heaven and earth to try and bring him here. Milan pushed the boat out to extortionate money to get him and they made him an offer he couldn't refuse. We were pipped to the post but it shows we're going in the right direction. Unfortunately it didn't happen this time but the search goes on. Had a player of Rivaldo's quality and stature signed for Spurs, you can only imagine what they might have gone on to achieve.