Tottenham Hotspur have had issues in the position of right back this season, with both Kieran Trippier and Serge Aurier struggling with injuries and maintaining consistent defensive performances.
However, it is an old Spurs right back who has been speaking out on his time in North London this week, as Pascal Chimbonda reflected on his Tottenham career.
The French international had two different spells with Spurs, including two years after signing from Wigan in 2006, and another period after returning in 2009.
Chimbonda is currently training as a coach, and spends a little time at Tottenham’s academy each week. He also played in the legends test event at the new 62,062 capacity seater stadium earlier this month.
However, he has now revealed that he never actually wanted to leave Spurs at all, and only left in pursuit of first team football.
When Spurs started the next season poorly, Chimbonda was called and asked if he would return, a chance that he leapt at.
He said in an exclusive interview with Get French Football News: “Well in the first place I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to leave Tottenham. But I also wanted to play. And they signed a right-back and it was certain that he was going to be played ahead of me.
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“So I left, but then it was going badly at Tottenham – they had a terrible start to the season – and in December the coach called and asked me if I was keen to return. I said yes and I came back. But Tottenham is like Wigan – it’s one of the clubs that I carry in my heart.
“I have my UEFA A Licence and I’m working to gain experience in order to get to the highest level. So for the moment I’m training youths, I’m coaching in academies, in scholarship football. So I’m building experience to go higher, and after the A Licence I want to obtain my pro licence.
“I do part-time work with Tottenham’s 18-year-olds. I go once week, a couple of times a month. But otherwise it’s mainly football scholarship – 18-23-year-olds who can play football but at the same time work on their academic level, so that if they don’t succeed in football, they have a way out.”
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