Tottenham Hotspur’s title hopes took a huge hit yesterday as they were defeated 3-1 at home by Wolves. The Championship champions scored three second-half goals to get the best of Spurs in a fantastic contest in London.
Tottenham started to lose control of the game after the introduction of Portuguese international Joao Moutinho in the second half. The 32-year-old rolled back the clock with a vintage display in the heart of midfield which proved something of a lesson to Spurs’ youngster Harry Winks.
His reward was the assist for Willy Boly’s equaliser and plenty of applause afterward.
Moutinho, of course, is a name Tottenham fans have heard plenty of in the past.
Andre Villas-Boas once proved a false dawn at Spurs. The Portuguese maverick failed to build on early success at Spurs and eventually got the chop from Daniel Levy.
As reported by The Guardian in 2012, Moutinho was AVB’s first-choice to replaced Luka Modric at White Hart Lane. The pair had worked together at Porto with great success.
“The chairman proposed a challenge to increase Tottenham’s competitive level, but immediately [Luka] Modric left and we didn’t get any of the targets I had identified such as João Moutinho, Willian, Oscar or Leandro Damião.
“These were promises that were not kept. I had a group of players I had not chosen. In two years I lost [Rafael] van der Vaart, Modric, Bale, and all the promises made were unfulfilled.”
– Andre Villas-Boas on Joao Moutinho pursuit
Spurs actually agreed a deal with Porto to sign Moutinho on deadline day that summer. As reported by The Telegraph, a £24 million move was negotiated but potential third-party issues stopped a transfer from happening.
No deal ever happened, with Moutinho joining Monaco a year later.
He later claimed, as reported by The Guardian, that Daniel Levy did not keep promises regarding the signing of players, including Moutinho, during his eventful 18 months in charge.
Yesterday, Tottenham saw exactly what they could have won if Moutinho had been brought to the club.