'Big talent': Ledley King says player Spurs signed for £4.7m looked like Ronaldinho the first time he saw him

Ledley King has claimed that one player reminded him of Ronaldinho the first time he saw him play – before he ended up signing for Tottenham for an initial £4.7 million.

Tottenham have definitely had their fair share of phenomenal players in the Premier League era, with Spurs making one of the league’s first superstar signings following its rebranding when they brought in Jurgen Klinsmann.

Meanwhile, the likes of Gareth Bale and Harry Kane will be remembered amongst the greatest the Premier League has ever had. And Ledley King is widely considered one of the league’s most talented defenders.

But it seems that Tottenham had a player on their books who reminded King of Ronaldinho – and sold him after just 17 top-flight appearances back in 2012.

Ledley King says Giovani dos Santos reminded him of Ronaldinho

Spurs fans will not remember Giovani dos Santos’ time in North London particularly fondly, with the winger struggling after his £4.7 million move. The Mexico international spent much of his spell out on loan before joining Mallorca permanently.

King was asked on talkSPORT whether he had ever come up against a player who was so good he felt compelled to tell his manager to sign them. And that led him to reflect on the first time he saw dos Santos play.

“I’ve seen players where I thought, unbelievable. I’ll tell you one, dos Santos, I remember watching him, Giovani dos Santos, when he was playing for Mexico in like an under-16s tournament, and he looked just like Ronaldinho, just a younger version,” he said.

“I didn’t say go and buy him, but I thought to myself that kid’s going to be a star. He ends up joining our club, it didn’t work out for him, but he was a big talent.”

Attacker never managed to realise his full potential

It seems fair to say that dos Santos never managed to live up to expectations – which, in fairness, is the case for so many younger players tipped for superstardom.

Tottenham were hardly made to rue their decision to sell the forward – who did go on to make more than a century of appearances for Mexico – with Gareth Bale stealing the show on a regular basis around the time dos Santos was sold.

It is interesting that King was so impressed by dos Santos some time before he signed for Spurs. He must have thought that they had struck gold after signing him for less than £5 million.