Former Tottenham defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto has said that he has no regrets about admitting he played football for money, insisting that other players agree with him even though they might not admit it.
Assou-Ekotto created quite a controversy when he admitted in an interview to The Guardian back in 2010 that he viewed playing football as a job rather than a passion.
The former Spurs left-back has now insisted that the players are not genuine when they speak about their love for the club.
When asked about his past comments, he told The Athletic: “Did the other players agree with me? I’m sure, I’m sure, 200 per cent.
“Listen, when your agent calls and says, I have a club for you, the first question is: ‘How much?’ It’s business.
“I don’t think it helped me being so honest, but I am like that. It’s good for business to say, ‘I love the club, I love the fans, blah blah blah… oh (I’ve moved to) another club’. I’m not like that.”
“It’s good for them for business to do that. It’s up to them. If they don’t want to be honest, it’s their problem.”
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The 37-year-old insisted that his former Tottenham teammates did not push back against his comments but admitted that one member of Harry Redknapp’s coaching staff did not like what he said.
Ekotto added: “The players didn’t say anything, but maybe one coach said it’s not cool to speak like that. I said, ‘I don’t need to lie’.”
“Maybe some clubs don’t want to buy a player who plays for the money. Even if everyone (else) is there for the money, even if the owner of the club wants to make money. Maybe in 50 to 100 years, people will understand.
“It’s not a regret but I would like to see if I would have had the same career without being honest.”
The former Tottenham man now plays for amateur side SC Saint-Nicolas-lez-Arras, a team local to his home in the north of France.
He admitted that he is now enjoying his football a lot more since he does not play professionally.
“Of course, I play for free! I like football, even more, when it’s amateur. Sometimes when I played professionally I didn’t know really what was going on — for example, West Ham and Aston Villa wear the same kind of shirt and sometimes I would go there and be like, ‘OK, it’s Aston Villa’ and I’d have to be told, ‘No, it’s West Ham’.
“But (as an) amateur, I know on Monday who I’m going to play Sunday. Because it’s fun to play. So maybe they pay me with something Tottenham couldn’t pay me — happiness.”
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I remember that when Ekotto made those comments back in 2010, it was not received particularly badly from Spurs fans, partly because one could have never questioned the left-back’s commitment when he was on the pitch.
It is naive to think that money does not play a big role in footballers’ decisions and it is understandable given that their careers are short and they need to maximise their earning opportunities.
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