Teddy Sheringham explains how an audacious move for Diego Maradona saw Ossie Ardiles bring Jurgen Klinsmann to Tottenham

Richard Parry4 May 2017

Few people can spark a smile at White Hart Lane quite like Osvaldo Ardiles.

Ossie played 221 times for Tottenham, winning the FA Cup in 1981 before the team tasted success in the Uefa Cup three years later.

He would provide the inspiration for Tottenham’s FA Cup song, ‘Ossie’s Dream’ - a collaboration with Chas & Dave - which reached No 5 in the charts, before later returning to club as manager in 1993.

His captain at Spurs would be club hero Teddy Sheringham, and in an extract from the forthcoming documentary ‘Legends Lives – Ossie Ardiles’, he explains how an audacious move for Argentine legend Diego Maradona saw Ardiles sign Jurgen Klinsmann instead.

Photo: Mike King/Allsport UK/Getty Images
Mike King/Allsport UK/Getty Images

Retelling the story, Sheringham said: “He [Ossie] says 'I'm thinking about signing Maradona' and I was just like 'oh wow, Ossie do it, oh wow, Ossie just do it' and he was like 'yeah, I'm right down the line with it - we're really thinking about bringing him in' and I was just like 'this is so exciting, let's do it'.”

“It wasn't till about ten days later that we had a little meeting and he pulled me into one of the little offices there [at White Hart Lane] and he says 'look, I've decided not to get Maradona...but I've got someone else you might like playing with' and I was as eager as ever and just went 'go on then' and went 'I'm bringing Jurgen Klinsmann in'.”

‘Legends Lives – Ossie Ardiles’ premieres at the Sanctum Hotel Soho on Friday May 5th, and you can be there too.

Watch the full trailer in the clip above, and click here for more information.

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