Benoit Assou-Ekotto became a fan favourite at Tottenham and time hasn’t done his reputation any harm, five years after he left the club.
The left-back played 204 times for Spurs after joining from Lens in 2006, enjoying his best years as a regular in the popular Harry Redknapp team.
But he wasn’t a typical footballer, admitting in an October 2011 interview with Goal that he didn’t really enjoy the game and played for the money.
Writing in a Q&A in his Daily Mail column, Peter Crouch recalled his former Spurs team-mate confessing to having “no interest in football whatsoever.”
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Other quirks Crouchie remembers about the Cameroonian, whom he chose as the most ‘gifted player who didn’t enjoy playing’, included turning up not knowing our opponents and a unique choice of pre-match meal.
He told the Daily Mail: “There are a few contenders but I’d have to say Benoit Assou-Ekotto, who I played with at Tottenham is the best example. He would tell us straight out that he had no interest in football whatsoever.
“He could name four or five players who were household names from the Premier League, but other than that he didn’t have a clue who was who.
“Benoit did things differently from the rest of us. For instance, he would turn up for pre-match meals with a hot chocolate and a croissant while we had to load up on pasta and eggs.
“If you asked him who we were playing, he wouldn’t know. He didn’t watch any games, he would just get on with things, do his job and off he went.
“He was a quiet lad and liked being on his own. He didn’t socialise with us but he certainly had talent. He could have gone a lot further, that’s for sure.”
So openly not giving a damn about the game would usually be an instant turn off to the average football supporter, but BAE made it work.