Former Internacional president Giovanni Luigi has revealed that he did hold talks with Tottenham Hotspur over selling Leandro Damiao, but admits that Spurs never came close to what his club wanted for the striker.
Damiao was constantly linked with a move to Tottenham during the early part of the decade after he broke into the Brazil squad.
Tottenham were indeed interested in the striker and Luigi admits that the north London club did contact him to probe the possibility of signing the Brazilian in the summer of 2011.
The former Internacional president revealed that Tottenham were prepared to offer a fee of around €8m to €9m, which was far less than Damiao's then €20m release clause.
He feels that Tottenham believed that they could bully a Brazilian club into selling one of their top players for a low fee due to their history of financial problems off the pitch.
But Luigi insisted that he was never going to sell at that figure and the talks did not get going.
“Yes, we did have talks with Tottenham”, the former Internacional president told The Athletic.
“I spoke with their chairman twice on the phone. He was talking about an offer of €8 million or €9 million, which was much lower than what we had in mind.
“I had the feeling that they expected us to accept their offers just because it’s Brazil.
“Brazilian clubs are famous for being debt-ridden and in need of money. But Damiao was in the national team, flying high.
“He was a tall player, and strong, like European teams like. He could cause problems for defenders. I wasn’t going to let him go for that amount, so I didn’t proceed with it.”
Damiao is currently plying his trade in Japan and has not played for Brazil since 2013.
