Jose Mourinho accused Kia Joorabchian of trying to make Arsenal hijack Tottenham’s deal for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Hojbjerg officially signed for Tottenham this week as the club’s first summer signing in a deal worth £15m.
And he signed a five-year deal and Tottenham were always the front-runners for the midfielder’s signature despite the interest from Everton.
But Joorabchian – who is believed to have an influence on Arsenal’s transfer business – revealed he was confronted by Mourinho, who believed he tried to make the midfielder move to the Emirates.
‘When a story picks up, it goes. I was talking to Jose after Pierre signed [for Tottenham] and he said, “Ah, you were trying to get him to Arsenal”,’ Joorabchian told talkSPORT.
‘We never tried to get him to Arsenal. He had an offer from Everton. ‘A rumour picks up and people kind of think, oh that sounds good, let’s try and build on that because we have nothing else to write.’
Hojbjerg switched agents to Pini Zahavi this year in order to secure a transfer away from Southampton, having been keen to join a bigger club.
Joorabchian has a close relationship with the Arsenal and already has several players at the club, which includes David Luiz and Cedric Soares.
Mourinho’s efforts to rebuild Spurs have been hugely affected by a limited transfer budget, but a new midfielder was high on his wish list.
Hojbjerg was interested in working with Mourinho and expressed his pride at joining the London side. He said: ‘I’m very proud, very happy, I’m also very excited to be here – I just want to get going, meet everyone and play football.
‘I like to bring energy, I like to bring wins – hopefully! From the first moment I got to speak to the people at the club, the coach, I think it was very clear to me that Spurs is a very big club but also a club with even more potential to reach the ultimate, and I wanted so much to be a part of that.
‘The leaders and the players that we have, world class. And the coach also, world class.’
