Younes Kaboul has claimed that he never wanted to leave Portsmouth.
The defender re-joined Spurs in January after he was sold by Pompey due to their financial crisis.
Kaboul said: ‘I didn’t want to leave Portsmouth and I never asked anyone to leave the club.
‘But they needed the money and when they told me that, I said “yes okay. I will do what I can do to help you”.
‘It was difficult to leave, but I was happy that the club got some money for me.
‘It was good to see the fans again and it was nice that they appreciated me. I definitely appreciated them when I was at Pompey.
‘I have great respect for people like this. They had to travel and know that they will be going down this season.
‘But I think it’s only some clubs in England that have fans like this – nowhere else in the world. In France, this would never happen.’