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Jermain Defoe admits one of his old Spurs teammates was shocking behind the scenes
Tottenham Hotspur icon Jermain Defoe has now admitted that Adel Taarabt was an absolute nightmare at the club back in the day.
Defoe was talking on ‘’ with Troy Deeney and was reminiscing about some of his former teammates.
And when he got onto the subject of Taarabt, Defoe was quick to laud his ability, but not so much his attitude at Tottenham.
: “I remember Adel Taarabt, in training and that he would try all these tricks and lads used to get frustrated that he didn’t train well.
“He didn’t eat stuff that we were meant to be eating but then we played against someone, right, at home and he did that thing – I saw it on Instagram.
“He used to get it and roll it, and flick it back. He used to do mad stuff. Naturally so gifted.
“He did it in the game and there is a picture of Didier Zokoro going like this [hands on head] behind him.
“He used to just do his stuff in the game and you would think that this kid is unbelievable but you used to have to try and get hold of him because you’d think this kid is a nightmare.”
Defoe said Taarabt did his own thing at Tottenham
Of course, Spurs fans may expect that such a character wouldn’t be appreciated at Tottenham these days.
Whilst Ange Postecoglou is known to be a brilliant man manager, even he may have struggled to change Taarabt’s ways given these comments.
Spurs now seem to have a very motivated group who are keen to take on all of Ange’s suggestions.
And the proof is in the results.
It’s no surprise that so many Spurs players are thriving whilst away with their national team, including the likes of Destiny Udogie and Ben Davies.
And whilst Defoe may protest that Taarabt may have had the ability to play in this Tottenham team, he certainly would have to change his ways.
Postecoglou has started with a clean slate since he arrived at the club, and seems to have all of his squad heavily invested in his vision.