Tottenham snubbed Ollie Watkins transfer as Jose Mourinho refused to pay price tag… and signed flop striker instead
JOSE MOURINHO snubbed the chance to sign Ollie Watkins at Tottenham, because he cost too much money.
Watkins, 28, has become one of the Premier League’s top strikers at Aston Villa, with 48 goal contributions in all competitions since the start of last season.
The England ace has fired Unai Emery‘s side into the Champions League, and has solidified his status as England‘s No2 striker behind record goalscorer Harry Kane.
However, it has been revealed that Watkins could have played the same role at club level.
Former Tottenham manager, director and scout David Pleat has revealed how the North London side came close to landing Watkins in 2020.
He explained how then-Spurs boss Mourinho asked him about Brentford ace Watkins, before deciding that the £28million price tag was too much and therefore allowing Villa to swoop in.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Pleat, 79, said: “I spoke to Jose on a couple of occasions. I remember once he asked me about Ollie Watkins, I remember that quite clearly.
“And at the time the price Brentford was £28m, which Dean Smith took the opportunity at Villa – a lovely man, Dean Smith.
“We decided that that was too much money. Or Jose decided it was too much money to pay for a cover forward for Harry Kane.”
Since that summer, Watkins has scored 75 goals in all competitions for Villa, adding 29 assists to take his goal contribution tally to 109.
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Spurs signed a number of strikers as cover options for Kane, but struggled to find the right star.
Current Fulham ace Carlos Vinicius was signed on loan from Benfica that summer instead, with the Brazilian scoring ten goals in all competitions, including one in the Premier League at a cost of a £2.7m loan fee.
In all, the 29-year-old has 41 goals and assists since 2020 from stints at PSV, Fulham and Galatasaray.
Pleat added: “And in the end, we went for Vinicius, a player who didn’t do too well. We has one of two other players who came as cover for Kane.
“They weren’t too successful, but they were cover players.
“And we never really had the succession ready to take over from Kane when the inevitability came that he would leave the club.”
Since then Richarlison was a big-money signing from Everton, but only managed three goals and was plagued by injury in the final season before Kane left for Bayern Munich in 2023.
Other strikers the club have tried since Kane broke into the team in 2014 in an effort to cover him have also not worked out great.
Clinton N’Jie, Vincent Janssen and Fernando Llorente all tried and failed to be suitable cover options for Kane.
N’Jie, now 31, arrived at the club in 2015 for £8.3m but never scored for the club in 14 appearances.
Arriving in 2016 for £17m, Janssen, now 30, scored just six goals in 42 games for Spurs before leaving in 2019.
Ex-Swansea star Fernando Llorente was another option who arrived with the hopes of being effective cover for Kane in 2017.
He netted 13 goals in 66 games over two years at the club after arriving for £12m.
This means that over the nine seasons that Kane reigned supreme at the club, they spent £100m on back-up strikers for a return of just 32 goals in all competitions.
Last summer Dominic Solanke was brought in as the club’s new talisman for an initial £55m that could see £10m added.
The ex-Bournemouth ace, 27, has three goals in 12 games under Ange Postecoglou.
They face Aston Villa on Sunday for their next game.
Tottenham's top 10 biggest signings: Hit or miss?
1) Tanguy Ndombele – £52.7m
Ndombele joined from Lyon in 2019 with huge expectations after shattering Tottenham’s transfer record.
But he would go on to play just 91 times for the club, scoring 10 goals and is now set to leave one year before the end of his contract.
2) Richarlison – £49.3m
Richarlison almost broke the £50m mark when he arrived from Everton in 2022 as Harry Kane’s back-up.
And while his tally of 12 goals this season was a significant increase on the three from his opening Spurs campaign, he is being linked with a departure this summer.
3) Brennan Johnson – £46.8m
Johnson was signed by Ange Postecoglou last summer and has impressed in patches during his first season in North London.
He scored five goals and 10 assists in 38 games and will look to build on that in the 2024/25 campaign.
4) Cristian Romero – £44.2m
Romero initially joined on loan from Atalanta in 2021, before his impressive displays saw him secure a permanent deal the following year.
He is two games shy of 100 for Spurs and, while he can be reckless with his tackling at times, is beginning to form a promising partnership with Micky van de Ven.
5) James Maddison – £39.4m
Maddison was handed Kane’s No10 shirt after arriving at Spurs and hit the ground running with three goals and five assists in his opening 11 matches.
But after getting injured against Chelsea in October, he failed to return with the same sharpness – managing just five goal contributions in 15 league matches as he missed out on England’s final 26-man squad for the Euros.
6) Davinson Sanchez – £35.7m
Sanchez joined Spurs from Ajax in 2017 and played more than 200 games across a six-year spell.
But he was always considered a somewhat erratic defender who did not play more than 20 games in a Premier League season from 2020 onwards.
7) Pedro Porro – £34m
Porro was another signing who originally arrived on loan in January 2023, before he signed permanently last summer.
He has 54 appearances for Spurs under his belt, scoring seven goals and impressing under Postecoglou this season.
8) Micky van de Ven – £34m
Rapid Dutch centre-back Van de Ven was named Spurs Player of the Season in his first campaign at the club.
His pace, athleticism, and technical ability on the ball have made him arguably Postecoglou’s best signing to date.
9) Moussa Sissoko – £29.8m
Sissoko came to North London for a substantial fee after being relegated with Newcastle and went on to enjoy five years at Tottenham, playing more than 200 games.
Unfortunately for the French midfielder, he is best-known for giving away a controversial penalty for handball in the first minute of Spurs’ 2-0 Champions League final defeat to Liverpool in 2019.
10) Giovani Lo Celso – £27.2m
Lo Celso joined on loan from Real Betis in 2019 – a deal that was made permanent the following season.
He has 10 goals and eight assists in 108 games, with some Spurs fans still unsure about the Argentine.