5 times Tottenham Hotspur missed out on transfer targets

#3: Sadio Mane

Sadio Mane could've been a Spurs player had it not been for their frugal wage structure

Liverpool forward Sadio Mane has been tearing up Premier League defences for four seasons now, but while fans of the Reds have become accustomed to his flying attacking style and ability to score and create goals seemingly at will, the Senegalese star could have ended up a Tottenham player instead, had it not been for his large wage demands.

Reports emerged in early 2017 that suggested that in the summer of 2016, then-Southampton star Mane headed to Tottenham’s Enfield training ground to discuss a move, and a transfer fee of somewhere around £34m – the same fee that Liverpool eventually ended up paying for him – was discussed.

Unfortunately, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy wasn’t fully convinced that the services of Mane would be worth breaking the club’s infamously tight wage structure for. At the time, Tottenham’s highest earners were Harry Kane and Hugo Lloris, who were both reported to be on £100k per week. Mane’s demands were unknown, but recent reports from 2018 suggest he currently earns £90k per week at Liverpool.

While the possible move wasn’t reported at the time – thankfully for Levy as it probably would’ve drawn the ire of Spurs fans – it stands as an example of Tottenham missing out on a player who’s become a major star due to their tight finances.