Over the years, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, a Tottenham cult-hero, has made it clear numerous times that football was always a means to an end and never a passion for him.
Now retired, the 40-year-old has revealed that he was close to signing for Arsenal in an interview with Julian Palmieri on his YouTube show Carton Jaune, but chose against it in favour of Spurs for a very particular reason.
It’s one that emphasises the fact that football wasn’t a driving force in his life, but he so happened to be good at it, and benefitted from the high wages handed to footballers, amassing a nice amount of money over his near nine years at Tottenham.
However, his career could have been very different if Arsenal had operated differently before games, as their habit of going to a hotel to unite the group the night before a match put him off swapping Lens for the north London side.
That’s why he chose Tottenham instead, and went into detail regarding his decision to snub Arsenal and go to their rivals.
He said: “Do you know why I didn’t sign for Arsenal? I asked my agent: “Do they go to the hotel before matches? He said yes, they do. I said I’m not going there. I want to have a life, not live in a hotel.
“Then he told me that Tottenham didn’t do that, so I said cool, we’ll go to Tottenham! What’s more, Arsenal were playing in the European Cup, which meant you weren’t at home 4 days a week!”
During his time with Tottenham, the left-back made 204 appearances, scoring four goals and assisting another 11, eventually calling it a day on his career in 2018 after a short spell with Metz in France.
