Tottenham Hotspur appear to have dodged a bullet after a surprising transfer claim emerged over the weekend.

Speaking in an interview with The Athletic, former Everton midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin revealed that he rejected a move to Spurs before signing for Manchester United back in the 2015 transfer window.

Now plying his trade under Patrick Vieira at Ligue 1 outfit Nice, the 30-year-old said:

"I had interest from Tottenham because Pochettino had gone there.

"A couple of other teams called my agent, but when Man United were interested there was no other choice. Man United and Real Madrid are the two biggest clubs in the world.

"You can’t refuse Man United but if I was to listen to my heart, I would have signed for Spurs. I knew the manager and how he would be with me, his training style. He called me to ask me to go to Spurs. He wanted me 100 per cent."

Schneirderlin cost the Red Devils around £25m, according to the BBC, and it's fair to suggest that they didn't get their money's worth.

The French defensive midfielder made only 47 appearances across two seasons before he pushed through an exit to Everton due to his lack of game time under Jose Mourinho, who is now coincidentally in charge of Spurs.

Even at Goodison Park, Schneiderlin failed to show why he had commanded two mega transfer fees in the space of three seasons - that much is seen by the fact that the Toffees recently made a £22m loss on him.

This summer, Carlo Ancelotti shipped him off to Nice for just £2m, meaning he accrued nearly £50m, only to be sold for a fraction of the price.

It was only really Ronald Koeman that got the best out of him between spells at Southampton and Everton - his best season was arguably his final one (2014/15) at St Mary's where he averaged a whopping 3.7 tackles, 2.6 interceptions and 0.8 key passes per game, via WhoScored.

He did not hit those numbers again in the following six seasons.

Therefore, Spurs had a close shave but one that Daniel Levy can ultimately feel thankful for as he would have no doubt been registered as one of his worst-ever signings if things panned out in a similar nature.

AND in other news, Spurs' "future CAPTAIN" fires major warning to Mourinho's current midfield...