Tottenham Hotspur reportedly made an attempt to hijack one centre-forward’s move to Serie A in the dying stages of the transfer window, but the player decided to reject the North London club’s approach for an interesting reason.

Spurs wanted to add more firepower to their squad

Tottenham secured the services of Mathys Tel from Bayern Munich on transfer deadline day, and the signing will be seen as a real coup by the North London club, given that they reportedly beat the likes of Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal to the 19-year-old’s signature.

It has now been claimed that Spurs also tried to complete another audacious deal for a prolific centre-forward in the dying stages of the transfer window.

The player in question is Santiago Gimenez, who completed a €35m (£29.1m) switch from Feyenoord to AC Milan in January, but not before Tottenham tried to hijack the deal.

Santiago Gimenez turned down Tottenham approach

Gimenez has made an excellent start to life at San Siro, having found the back of the net twice in two Serie A matches.

Calciomercato’s Daniele Longo has claimed that the 23-year-old could have instead ended up in North London as Spurs tried to force themselves into the race for the Mexican in the latter stages of the window.

Longo explains that Spurs were looking for players who could add more goals to their side and had set their sights on the former Feyenoord man.

However, the journalist claims that Gimenez had ‘already given his word’ to the Rossoneri by the time Spurs made an approach, and he refused to change his stance.

It is asserted that the centre-forward’s agent, Rafaela Pimenta, was also pushing the player to Milan rather than the Premier League side.

Spurs may have considered Gimenez as an alternative to Mathys Tel

It is extremely unlikely that Tottenham would have considered signing Gimenez in addition to Tel in January.

The Lilywhites likely explored a deal for the Mexico international when they were unsure if they were going to be able to strike a deal for the France Under-21 international.

Both Ange Postecoglou and Johan Lange would be delighted that they were able to get the 19-year-old as he is a better fit for Tottenham’s system than Gimenez, who can only operate as an out-and-out number nine.