Ardiles: I considered signing Maradona for Tottenham | OneFootball

Tottenham legend Ossie Ardiles says Diego Maradona would've love to have played for Spurs.

Ardiles admits he had plans to sign Maradona for Spurs when he was in charge in 1993.

Ardiles was close friends with Maradona, after the pair won the 1986 World Cup together, and wanted to manage him in the Premier League but a proposed move was canned by Ardiles over Maradona's personal circumstances at the time.

Asked if Maradona would've considered joining Spurs in the mid-90s, Ardiles was very confident that it could've been a real possibility.

He told the Daily Mail: "Yes. As a manager [of Tottenham] there was a possibility of bringing Diego to the club, yes. But Diego, at the time, was in a very bad state himself.

"In 1992 he went to Sevilla in Spain but before he had serious problems in Italy at Napoli with so many people. At the end of the day I imagined him coming here, to England, and because of his history, I put everything into balance and I thought it would be far too much for Diego."

While Ardiles reveals he never approached Maradona about the move, he remains very confident that the man himself would've said yes to joining Spurs and playing under him in 1993.

"I think Diego would have loved to have come and play here at Tottenham," Ardiles says. "Diego loved great challenges and that would've been a great challenge for him, but it never ended up happening."