Revealed: How close Tottenham came to signing Eden Hazard and why transfer fell through

Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp revealed that Spurs came close to signing Eden Hazard from Lille in 2012 before the permanent transfer collapsed because chairman Daniel Levy refused to finance the deal. Redknapp stated on The Overlap Daily podcast that he met the Belgian winger twice and agreed that Hazard wanted to join, but Levy declined to pay the requested fee of around £18 million.

Joe Cole, who played alongside Hazard at Lille, originally alerted Redknapp to the Belgian talent. Following Tottenham's decision not to finalize the permanent transfer, Chelsea signed Hazard for £32 million that same summer, where he went on to win two Premier League titles before eventually moving to Real Madrid in 2019.