Tosin Adarabioyo’s deadline-day move to Tottenham Hotspur from Chelsea wasn’t on anyone’s transfer bingo.
The Englishman is an experienced campaigner who slipped down the pecking order under Xabi Alonso.
Tottenham, for their part, weren’t expecting to recruit another central defender after already having signed Macos Senesi and Jan Paul van Hecke.
However, Kevin Danso wanted to leave and sealed a permanent move to Sunderland on deadline day, due to which the Lilywhites were forced to take emergency action.
Adarabioyo is a Tottenham player now and has revealed in his first interview with the club that Dominic Solanke talked up the club before his transfer.
Solanke convinced Adarabioyo to move to Tottenham
“We had a lot of conversations and we spoke about the club, just excited to link up,” said the Englishman when asked about Solanke’s role.
“He said this is the place to be, so once he said that I knew, along with the conversation I had with the gaffer, I knew it was an amazing club to be at.”
Their friendship off the pitch is well documented, with Solanke confirming a few years ago that he’s part of a book club in London with Adarabioyo and Kyle Walker-Peters.
And that could prove to be invaluable for the new Tottenham recruit, who will look to get to grips with his surroundings quickly to make an impact for the club.