Ola Aina started his career at Chelsea, but he was close to signing for their London rivals first
Super Eagles defender Ola Aina has revealed that he was very close to joining Tottenham Hotspur as a boy, but the club faltered and left him in the dark on the day he was supposed to sign, Soccernet.ng reports.
Aina was born in England to Nigerian parents. And that was where he started his football career.
The 28-year-old right-back, who turns 29 in October, joined Chelsea’s academy in 2013 and worked his way up. But he did not cut it with the senior team.
Aina spent a season each on loan at Hull City and Torino, but Chelsea ultimately sold him to the latter in 2019.
He alternated between the Serie A club and Fulham before finally moving to Nottingham Forest last year.
Aina has established himself as an important player at the City Ground after an impressive performance last season.
Meanwhile, in a recent interview, the Super Eagles star revealed that he could have actually started his career at Tottenham, which might have made his career tow an entirely different path.
“I was at Spurs (Tottenham), training and training. Then, they told me that they were going to sign me on a particular day after the training,” Aina said on the 90s baby show.
“The time comes, we go into an office and me and my dad are told to sit. We sat there one hour, two hours, almost five hours.
“I was already complaining to my dad that I was hungry. My dad told me to go into the office. But we just got fed up and left. They never said anything to us after that.”
Ola Aina speaks on #Tottenham missing out on him as a youth player pic.twitter.com/bSE4OIBWqL
— AllThings_THFC (@Allthings__THFC) July 28, 2025
Making it into Chelsea’s first team was really difficult at the time Aina broke out due to the quality players they had in every position.
Perhaps, if he had signed for Tottenham, he would have gotten minutes in the senior team and grow to become a regular.
Nottingham Forest finished 7th in the English Premier League and would normally be competing in the UEFA Conference League.
However, Crystal Palace, who took the final UEFA Europa League slot by virtue of winning the FA Cup last season, were dropped to the Conference League due to UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules. So, the Tricky Trees will now play in the Europa League next season.
Ola Aina will have some extra work load next season due to their participation in Europe. Nonetheless, he would still love it though, as he has never played in the Europa League.
The Super Eagles star will have to be at his best to help the Tricky Trees perform well next season.
