According to The Evening Standard, Mauricio Pochettino rejected Real Madrid star Marco Asensio and Leicester midfielder Youri Tielemans while in charge of Tottenham.
The report states that the Argentine was often sceptical about signing new faces, and rejected a number of players who were offered to him, including the two aforementioned stars.
The Evening Standard also say that the difference between Jose Mourinho and Pochettino is that the Portuguese coach is more willing to accept suggestions from the club, such as Steven Bergwijn who arrived in January.
While the ex-Tottenham boss is well within his rights to sign who he wants, we can’t help feel as if Spurs would’ve benefitted from having Asensio and Tielemans.
In the latter’s case, he signed for Leicester in a £40 million deal last summer, and has gone on to become a key cog under Brendan Rodgers at the King Power Stadium.
With Asensio, there is also no denying his talent.
His Real Madrid teammate Lucas Vazquez has previously tipped him to win the Ballon d’Or award when speaking to Cadena SER (via Goal), whereas Zinedine Zidane likened the Spaniard’s left foot to that of Lionel Messi.
Cope (via Goal) quote Asensio as saying: ‘Zidane told me that since Messi, he had never seen a left foot like mine.
‘I was a little impressed, because Messi is a piece of a footballer.’
It’s too late to do anything about this revelation now with Pochettino no longer at Tottenham. However, it’s difficult not to imagine what could’ve been if the ex-Southampton boss chose to sign these players.