The Gent defender has given a great insight into the practices at Spurs.
Picture Supplied by Action Images
Nigerian international defender William Troost-Ekong has been talking about his time in the youth-team at Tottenham Hotspur – and cleaning boots with Harry Kane.
The 23-year-old defender came through the youth ranks at Spurs before leaving the club in 2013 to join FC Groningen.
Now he is registered at Belgian side Gent, although was not registered for the Europa League team that dumped Spurs out of the Europa League, and a full Nigerian international
He has been talking to ELF Voetbal this week about his time at Spurs and the cleaning of boots he had to partake in at the club.
Tottenham’s Harry Kane celebrates scoring their second goal with Mousa Dembele
But even the future stars did not get away with the dirty work. Current star striker Harry Kane had to get a polish on as well:
“As youths, we had to polish the shoes of the players of the first team. Everyone had that my teammate Harry Kane for example. I was responsible for the shoes of Ledley King, Younès Kaboul and Michael Dawson.
“At first I thought to make it nice, but over time it became annoying. Because you could every day only to go home when you brush the shoes had put in their lockers. If it was not good enough, you got it told the equipment manager. But at Christmas you received an envelope from the player whose shoes you had polished. As a thank you.”
Tottenham are breeding some top young talent at the moment and perhaps these traditions, which seem outdated to some, are still effective in helping develop some humility in the modern graduate.
It certainly has not done goal-machine Kane any harm.
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