Pochettino admits Spurs made a mistake in selling ‘perfect’ Sigurdsson to Swansea
Swansea's Gylfi Sigurdsson celebrates after scoring in a 2-2 draw against Chelsea in September - Credit: EMPICS Sport
Mauricio Pochettino admits Tottenham were a little hasty in selling Gylfi Sigurdsson to Swansea, conceding that the Iceland international would have been a “perfect player” for his squad.
Pochettino moved from Southampton to Spurs in May 2014 and Sigurdsson departed shortly afterwards, at a time when Franco Baldini was Tottenham’s technical director.
The midfielder has since scored 25 goals for the Swans and, as he prepares to return to White Hart Lane on Saturday, Pochettino admits the Lilywhites probably made a mistake.
“When we arrived at Tottenham he was a player that was difficult to assess,” said Pochettino. “If you remember, the decision was when we were in Seattle, before playing the first friendly game.
“I remember he was in the starting XI to play that match and I had a call to say ‘ok, the agreement is done with Swansea’. It was difficult to assess him.
“In that moment we had 34 senior players and to take the decision, it was too difficult to assess because we did not have time enough.
“I think after he moved to Swansea and we saw his development at Swansea, he was a perfect player for us. But in that moment it was the club decision and his decision to move to Swansea and find another way.
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“Every time we meet him and see him he shows his quality, not only as a player but like a man. All the people here talk very highly about him. It’s a shame but sometimes in football you never know what will happen in the future.
“There is no regret. When you find in the club 34 players it’s difficult to assess them all in the first few weeks, and when the club and player decide to move, there is nothing you can do about that.”
Follow me on Twitter @BenPearceSpurs
