Over the years, English has picked up some traditions, and not all of them have been fully accepted/understood by foreign players.
One of them, which won’t seem strange to anyone who has been part of a football club, is for the young players to clean the boots of the professionals, out of respect.
However, Tottenham’s Erik Lamela, who grew up in Argentina, wasn’t aware of this, and was asked by TyC Sports in his home country to clarify what this entailed, with the presenter almost shocked this was actually a thing.
The Spurs player said: “I was never asked, but it’s true that the youth team players are asked to clean the boots, but I don’t particularly like it. I didn’t know at first, they asked me for my boots and I was like ‘no, no, no’, and I didn’t understand why, but it’s a tradition they have here.
“It’s just a question of having to do it, out of respect. As I’ve told you, for me, it makes me a bit uncomfortable. I prefer to clean them myself”.
Set to feature for Argentina for the first time in two years, Lamela has enjoyed a great start to the season at Tottenham, scoring six goals and picking up two assists in 13 appearances.
Picking up his first cap in a friendly against Paraguay back in 2011, the 26-year-old last wore his country’s shirt on September 7th 2016 against Venezuela in a World Cup qualifier, which finished 2-2.
