New Barcelona signing, Frenkie de Jong has revealed he was tempted to join Tottenham last summer.
The 21-year-old midfielder will officially join Barcelona from current club Ajax on July 1 in a deal worth £65m.
But De Jong, who signed a five-year deal with the Catalan giants, has admitted he was nearly lured to the Premier League by Mauricio Pochettino.
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“I considered their [Tottenham] offer long and hard. I see Tottenham as a very stable club, and they are only getting better,” he told FourFourTwo.
“They give young players a chance and I see Mauricio Pochettino as a manager who really improves young players. I like the kind of football they are playing. I think it would have suited my game.”
But De Jong says he eventually decided against a move to Tottenham out of loyalty to Ajax, believing he still owed the Dutch club a further season.
“The moment wasn’t right,” he added. “I wasn’t finished at Ajax, as I hadn’t yet played a full season in my own position.
“I was also injured in that period, so I was thinking, ‘Not yet’. I felt I should stay for another year at Ajax, or perhaps longer.”
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De Jong originally broke through the youth ranks at Willem II and joined Ajax for £260,000 in the summer of 2015, but was loaned back to his first club for one season.
