Dimitar Berbatov has confessed he was dreaming of a move to Real Madrid, Barcelona or Manchester United before he agreed to join Tottenham in 2006.
The former striker had been impressing in the Bundesliga for Bayer Leverkusen, and was linked with a whole host of elite clubs before somewhat surprisingly moving to Spurs, who had finished fifth in the Premier League the season before.
Berbatov was a big success at White Hart Lane for two years before earning a transfer to United, but speaking to talkSPORT he said he needed some convincing from then-manager Martin Jol before the move to north London.
"I was like, ‘wait a minute, Spurs want me? What? Not Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United?’, Berbatov said.
"I was thinking all these stupid questions because I was thinking I was doing so well that a big team must come after me.
"When you’re young, you think you know everything. You think you have all the answers to all the questions, but you have nothing.
"Again, my intuition will start working the same, ‘Berbs now is the right time, difficult but we need to challenge ourselves’.
"In the end, their persistence was a big factor for me, and of course, meeting Martin Jol was the moment I knew I had to go there."
"He’s sitting in the chair like the Godfather! He was like ‘Berba, welcome my boy!’ I was telling myself, ‘this is the right place’ purely because sometimes you just feel the connection with someone, I don’t know how to explain it.
"Secondly, because Martin looked like my late granddad, who I loved to death. I was thinking to myself ‘I think we are going to have something here.'"
Berbatov went on to score 46 goals in 102 appearances in all competitions for Spurs, and is remembered as one of their best strikers in the Premier League era.
