Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp says the club gaffed allowing Fulham striker Bobby Zamora to slip through their hands.

When Spurs caretaker manager David Pleat paid West Ham £7million for a disaffected Jermain Defoe in February 2004, Zamora went the other way from White Hart Lane back to Upton Park almost unnoticed.

He had failed to replicate his prolific scoring for Brighton, managing just one goal in 18 appearances in a white shirt. Yet Redknapp argues: "Tottenham let Zamora go too quickly."

The manager added: "He was a terrific schoolboy footballer at West Ham but then he disappeared out of the game.

"I was manager of West Ham at the time and Frank Lampard Snr used to tell me what a good player Zamora was as a kid. But he stopped playing football and West Ham let him go."