There have been a few near transfers under Daniel Levy that always have Tottenham supporters looking back and thinking about what could have been.

But it looks like those near misses have not completely gone away, with the Lilywhites’ former business chairman, under-fire Spurs chief Johan Lange, creating a list of his own with a name popping out on the ‘almost’ list who is already making noise in the English top tier.

It looked like Tottenham were pushing to sign Rayan at the start of the calendar year, but despite multiple links and reports, the North Londoners lost the battle for his signature to Bournemouth, who went on to replace Antoine Semenyo with the 19-year-old Brazilian winger.

It looked like Tottenham had other priorities, like sanctioning a move for a marquee midfielder (as Conor Gallagher joined Tottenham) despite sanctioning a move for Brennan Johnson to Crystal Palace without bringing in an ideal replacement (something that surprised a lot of supporters).

While Spurs were focusing on their midfield requirement, Bournemouth pushed for a move and ended up signing Rayan for £25m, a fee that looks quite modest given his performances since moving to Europe.

You cannot say he has quite...