MASON MELIA’S agent and uncle revealed the teenage sensation turned down “50 or 60 offers across Europe” before agreeing to sign for Tottenham Hotspur.
The St Patrick’s Athletic starlet, 17, will join Spurs in January 2026 after the League of Ireland club reached a deal with the Premier League outfit.
The Wicklow wonder will be the first million-euro player to come out of the League of Ireland, with the fee believed to be in the region of €1.9 million.
It is believed that the figure could rise to €4.2m with a 20 percent sell on.
Melia is represented by former Ireland star Clive Clarke – who is also his uncle.
And appearing on Oliver Callan on RTÉ Radio 1, he revealed: “It’s through Mason’s hard work that it has been able to happen.
“He went over to Spurs three years ago [to visit], it’s a club he thinks very fondly of. We probably had 50 or 60 offers throughout Europe.
“The likes of Celtic have come really strongly and pushed really hard for him.
“You can only pick one club and he chose Spurs. We decided to make it happen and it’s all done now.
“This is something for the last four or five years with Mason that we’ve been building up to this moment.
“We know he is a very talented boy.
“It has been great working with St Pat’s and Mason in trying to break the transfer record, which is what we all set out to do from probably this time last year because we felt we had a player of certain ability.”
The former St Joseph’s schoolboy clocked up 41 appearances in all competitions for St Pat’s, bagging seven goals.
He had made a scoring debut for St Pat’s against Wexford in January 2023 at the age of 15 and went on to play 10 times in the league that season, scoring twice.
SunSport revealed in December that Tottenham had launched a major charm offensive in a bid to jump to the top of the queue to sign the St Pat’s striker
He was brought over for their game against Chelsea and shown around their training facilities.
That was a decisive move in ensuring Spurs remained in the hot seat to sign the Wicklow native.
Everton, Chelsea and Celtic were also keen but, like Tottenham, could not proceed with a deal until he turned 18.
Bologna and Hannover 96 were in a position to sign the forward now but SunSport revealed that he would be staying put until at least the summer.
But now a deal has been done that will see Melia remain at Richmond Park for the duration of the 2025 season before making the move to London.
