Harry Redknapp: 'Eden Hazard wanted to join Tottenham Hotspur'

Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp has revealed that the club were close to signing Eden Hazard before he eventually moved to Chelsea from Lille.

The Belgium international was named PFA Player of the Year last season following his role in Chelsea's Premier League title-winning campaign.

Prior to the playmaker's move to Stamford Bridge in 2012, he held talks with then-Spurs boss Redknapp, who has revealed that Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was also close to signing for the North London outfit.

"There are a few players around in the Premier League that I [liked], like [Eden] Hazard," Redknapp said in an interview with FourFourTwo. "I met Hazard out in Paris in a hotel for two hours. He was wanting to come to Tottenham.

"Also Courtois the goalkeeper, we had his mum and dad over. We had a meeting with [chairman] Daniel Levy, him and his mum and dad. We were in for him when he was probably 17. We could have had him."

Redknapp is currently out of work after ending a three-year spell as Queens Park Rangers boss in February.