LONDON -- Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has said it was a "shame" Gylfi Sigurdsson was sold because the Swansea midfielder would have been "perfect" for his team.
In July 2014, a month after Pochettino's appointment, Sigurdsson returned to the Swans in a deal that took Ben Davies and Michel Vorm to White Hart Lane.
Speaking at a news conference ahead of Swansea's visit to Spurs on Saturday, Pochettino said the decision to sell Sigurdsson -- which Spurs say was taken by former technical director Franco Baldini -- had been too hasty.
"When we arrived at Tottenham, he was a player that was difficult to assess," he said.
"The decision was made when we were in Seattle to play a friendly game [against Seattle Sounders]. I remember he was in the starting XI and I had a call to say: 'OK, the agreement is done with Swansea.'
"In that moment we had 34 senior players, and to take the decision was too difficult because we did not have enough time.
"I think after he moved to Swansea and we saw his development at Swansea he was a perfect player for us."
Spurs have struggled for goals from midfield this season and appear to lack an alternative to struggling playmaker Christian Eriksen.
But Pochettino stressed that "when the club and a player [Sigurdsson] decide to move, there is nothing you can do about that."
"Every time we meet him and see him he shows his quality not only as a player but as a man," the manager added. "All the people here talk very highly about him.
"It's a shame, but sometimes in football you never what will happen in the future."