Tottenham Hotspur nearly signed Luis Suarez and Eden Hazard, claims ex-manager Harry Redknapp

Harry Redknapp has told the tale of how he nearly signed world-class stars Luis Suarez and Eden Hazard during his time at Tottenham Hotspur and believes that they would have transformed his side into title contenders.

In 2009-2010, his first full campaign with the club, Redknapp won the Premier League Manager of the Year award as he guided Spurs to their most successful Premier League finish and a place in the Champions League.

Despite leading Tottenham to their second fourth-placed finish in three years and missing out on Champions League qualification only due to Chelsea winning the competition, Redknapp was sacked by Tottenham in June 2012.

Harry Redknapp has told the tale of how he nearly signed two world-class stars for Tottenham

Eden Hazard plays for Chelsea against Spurs on Saturday - a team he could well have joined

Belgian Hazard dribbles while playing for Lille just four months before heading to Chelsea

But before Suarez joined the Reds from Ajax in January 2011, and Hazard signed for the Blues the summer Redknapp left White Hart Lane, the 69-year-old has revealed that the two players almost ended up in north London.

He told Jim White on talkSPORT: 'I was managing a Tottenham team that I thought could go on and win the title, I genuinely believed that.

 I took Louis Saha and Ryan Nelsen on free transfers [on February 1, 2012] – we were short, we had injuries at centre half and I had no striker.

'If we had gone out [and invested] then... Luis Suarez was a player that we were looking at.'

Luis Suarez (right) goes forward for Barcelona against Real Sociedad on Sunday evening

Uruguayan star Suarez celebrates scoring for Ajax in October 2010, before joining Liverpool

Redknapp continued: 'I spent three hours with Hazard in a hotel room in Paris – I met him at the airport - he was dead keen to come to Tottenham.

'We were right down the road with Hazard and Luis Suarez was the best player in the Premier League a few years ago when he was at Liverpool, he was fantastic.

'If we just got one of those in, we had a team that could have challenged for the title.'