Spurs boss Pleat: Asian commitments ended Mahdavikia interest

Tribalfootball - Tottenham caretaker boss David Pleat has revealed the club decided against signing Hamburg winger Mehdi Mahdavikia because of his Asian commitments.
Talking about Fredi Kanoute's situation, Pleat said: "I wanted to sign an Iranian here called Mahdavikia - he ended up in Germany now and has done well.

"But it was clear when we started talking to him that with the Asian Games, national service and all sorts of other cultural problems, it wasn't going to be easy to sign him.

"It's like buying an intimidating player who misses 12 games a year because he keeps getting sent off. You would think twice about signing him.

"We're fighting it as best we can and we're not resigned to losing him.

"We knew of the problem a little while ago but just hoped it would not come up.

"We'll try and talk to FIFA and make our point. I'm not sure whether we'll go to the meeting. If it's in Barbados, then we'll go."