Ollie Tanner has spoken about rejecting Tottenham Hotspur before signing for Cardiff City, revealing details of the proposed move for the first time.
The English attacker has become a cult hero at the Cardiff City Stadium after his goal fired Cardiff to their first win over rivals Swansea since 2021.
The Bluebirds were lucky to have Tanner at the club, given the interest he had from Tottenham Hotspur prior to signing for the club.
Little was known about the details behind Tanner turning down Spurs to sign for Cardiff, but the midfielder recently spoke to The Central Podcast to reveal all about the move to Tottenham Hotspur that broke down.
Ollie Tanner revealed that he was offered a contract to join Tottenham while at Lewes, but turned them down because they wanted him to join their under-21 squad. Needing first team football to continue his development, he turned down the deal and signed for Cardiff City soon after.
“They (Tottenham) asked me to come in for a couple of weeks, just to come in because they were interested and wanted to do a deal. They said ‘Come in, meet the boys, have a couple of training sessions and see if you like it and then we’ll talk about signing a deal’.
“I went in for a week or so and really enjoyed it. There were so issues with anything like that, but it got to doing the deal and that’s when it fell through. I would have gone if the deal was right – it wasn’t just about money, it was other things as well.
“They wanted me to play under 21s football and I knew that I needed to go somewhere and keep going in the first team, not going to u21s football because I know it’s not good for me.
He also revealed in the interview that it was former Cardiff City defender Roger Johnson who convinced him to make the move to the Bluebirds.
Ollie Tanner spoke how Johnson, who moved to Bromley to finish his career and played there from 2017 to 2019 when Tanner played there, told hi
“I remember a couple of years ago, when I was at Bromley, one of the boys there was talking about a move to Cardiff. And Roger Johnson ended up saying to him, ‘If you ever get the chance to go to Cardiff, go! Unbelievable place to play football, place, people, if you have the chance, you have to go!
“In a couple of years then, when Cardiff came in for me, it just stuck out in my mind, massively.”
Ollie Tanner has played 17 times in the Championship this season, and has been ever present in Cardiff’s push for the play off places.
You can see the full interview with Ollie Tanner here.
