Tottenham Hotspur missed out on signing Robin van Persie whereas he was simply a young person, with former director of soccer David Pleat unimpressed by how the Dutchman appeared when approaching throughout a recreation for Feyenoord.
Van Persie finally ended up transferring to Arsenal , with that call having caught within the thoughts of Pleat.
Pleat spent 26 years as a supervisor, taking cost of the likes of Luton City , Leicester Metropolis , Sheffield Wednesday and Tottenham Hotspur . In the direction of the top of his profession, Pleat moved upstairs to grow to be the Spurs director of soccer – with two stints as caretaker boss and one season within the dugout at White Hart Lane, too.
How Tottenham missed out on signing Robin van Persie
Van Persie at Feyenoord in 2003 (Picture credit score: Getty Photos)
Throughout his time, Pleat missed out on a few high-profile signings, although failing to recognise the expertise of Robin van Persie nonetheless sticks in his thoughts. When requested who he regrets not signing throughout his profession in soccer, Pleat highlights a couple of high-profile stars alongside Van Persie.
“At Tottenham, John Barnes’ agent informed me he was leaving Watford : £750,000,” Pleat solely tells FourFourTwo . “However I had Waddle and Hoddle. I didn’t take Barnes and he went to Liverpool .
Pleat missed out on plenty of large gamers (Picture credit score: Getty Photos)
“At Luton we had Stuart Pearce coaching for every week with the reserves when he was at Wealdstone; I requested the coach what he was like and he stated, ‘OK.’ I ought to’ve performed him in an 11 vs 11 and made everybody play correctly: then we might have seen his character.
“Then as a director of soccer, at Tottenham, I went to Feyenoord to see Robin van Persie. He got here on as a sub, shirt out of his shorts, socks rolled down, trying a proper mess. Steve Rowley at Arsenal had determined to not signal him, however they went for a re-assessment and determined to take an opportunity.”
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Certainly, in the summertime of 2004 Arsenal signed Van Persie for £2.75m, changing him from a left winger right into a centre-forward. That proved a masterstroke from Arsene Wenger, with Van Persie occurring to attain 132 targets in 278 video games for the Gunners previous to his transfer to Manchester United in 2012.
In whole, Van Persie ended up scoring 148 Premier League targets throughout his 11 years in England, profitable the Premier League and FA Cup in that point, too. For Pleat, failing to take a second have a look at the younger Dutchman for Feyenoord was clearly a mistake.
