Kranjcar chooses top of the table Tottenham over Everton

Tottenham Hotspur’s manager Harry Redknapp has pulled off a major transfer coup at the end of the transfer window period by signing Portsmouth midfielder Niko Kranjcar. Kranjcar has signed a four-year deal for a fee believed to be in the region of £2.5m.

Kranjcar wasn’t shy to reveal that Everton was interested in him, but the Croatian snubbed the chance to play at Goodison Park and rather opted in favour of a move to White Hart Lane. Tottenham are tied at the top of the league with Chelsea, which has a better goal differential, in points, with 12 from four games.

Niko told Croatian newspaper Jutarnji List, “"This is true. Everton is also a big club but, in the end, the tradition and greatness of Tottenham made the difference.

“I also knew manager Harry Redknapp, and Luka Modric and Vedran Corluka told me great things about the club.”

“Now I will play for a club with big ambitions - ambitions which are similar to mine,” he added. “I want to fight for trophies and I’m sure that at Tottenham I will get this chance, which I didn’t at Portsmouth. So for me this is a big step ahead in my career. If everything at Fratton Park would stay the same as before, I wouldn’t push so much for the move.

"But the ambitions were gone, the president wasn’t able to give so much money as before, players are leaving the club. I just didn’t want to stay in such a club.”

Harry Redknapp exhibited his contentment with the arrival of Kranjcar. “I know him from working with him and it is terrific to have him,” he said. “I’ve got two Croatians here who are fantastic professionals. Niko is a terrific footballer, a real Tottenham-type player. He’ll do well here. He was in the last year of his contract and it was a decent deal for him, so both clubs are happy.’

Kranjcar is now the third Tottenham player to be signed from Portsmouth in 2009, joining Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch as Harry Redknapp watches his old Fratton Park side fall apart.