Tottenham flop Adel Taarabt has revealed why he regrets his decision to sign for the Lilywhites over their North London rivals, Arsenal, 18 years ago.
Taarabt was widely viewed as one of the most promising young talents in French football when he arrived at Spurs in the summer of 2007 from Lens.
However, despite showing his outrageous ability on the ball during several cameos off the bench for Tottenham, the midfielder never managed to become a first-team regular under Martin Jol, Juande Ramos or Harry Redknapp.
Tottenham Hotspur eventually sold the tricky attacker to QPR for just £1m. That has pretty much been the story of Taarabt’s career, as he has never quite managed to deliver consistent displays and live up to his potential.
However, he did have one iconic season in the Championship when he scored 19 goals in 44 games.
Adel Taarabt says he made a mistake by joining Tottenham
Now 36, the Morocco international is seeing out the twilight of his career at Sharjah in the UAE Pro League.
The attacking midfielder has now revealed that he regrets snubbing Arsenal’s approach in favour of a move to Spurs, insisting that he would have developed better under the guidance of Arsene Wenger at the Emirates Stadium.
Taarabt said in an interview with talkSPORT: “My first choice that I think was not good was – not to sign for Tottenham, because Tottenham is a good club – but at that time I had offers to go to Arsenal and it was a more French club with Arsene Wenger and a lot of French players,” he shared.
“At Tottenham, I arrived in the dressing room with Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov, big characters, difficult to get a chance. I followed Damien Comoli, he was at Arsenal, I should’ve gone to Arsenal, but suddenly he was at Tottenham and he brought me there.”
😳 “Tottenham is a good club, but…”
🤯 “I should go to Arsenal!”
Adel Taarabt wishes he had joined Spurs’ north London rivals, Arsenal. pic.twitter.com/krlPt679le
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) July 22, 2025
Taarabt’s career is a cautionary tale for other youngsters
Recently, Pascal Chimbonda claimed that Taarabt was better in training than the likes of Berbatov and Modric.
The same sentiment was echoed by former Man City man, Nedum Onuoha, who said that Taarabt was as talented as David Silva and Yaya Toure.
However, as Tottenham fans saw with Tanguy Ndombele, talent alone is no guarantee that a player will have a great career at the highest level, with effort and application arguably being even more decisive factors.
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