Jurgen Klinsmann has revealed how a visit to Alan Sugar’s yacht for a coffee was enough to convince him to sign for Tottenham Hotspur.
Klinsmann had a fantastic relationship with Spurs fans during the two years he spent as a player at White Hart Lane.
The German first arrived at the club in the summer of 1994 and had a prolific season in front of goal, finding the back of the net 29 times (Wikipedia).
That earned the striker a move to Bayern Munich, where he thrived for a couple of seasons before completing a transfer to Sampdoria.
However, when Tottenham looked under threat of being relegated from the Premier League in the 1997/98 campaign, Klinsmann returned to White Hart Lane on loan and his goals helped the Lilywhites steer clear of the drop zone.
The 57-year-old has now revealed that his move to Spurs for his first spell was agreed in a matter of hours in Sugar’s yacht which was moored in Monte Carlo following his heroics at the 1994 World Cup.
He told talkSPORT: “I scored five goals at the World Cup. If I had two more games then I might have maybe been top scorer but, unfortunately, we got knocked out in the quarter-finals.
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“I had an offer from an Italian club, but I’d already played in Italy. I also had an offer from a Spanish club. And then, suddenly, I got a phone call and it’s Alan Sugar on the phone!
“He said, ‘I’m actually here in Monte Carlo on my yacht, is there any chance we can meet up for a coffee?’ I said, ‘Oh yeah, that’s 200 yards away from me’. I lived in an apartment building.
“So, we had a cappuccino, we discussed things for over two hours, and the deal was done!”
Spurs Web Opinion
There are not many players who can claim to be club legends when they have played for a team for less than two years but Klinsmann certainly can, given the connection he had with the fan base.
Some players just understand exactly what it means to play for a certain club and that was the case with Klinsmann at Tottenham. Rafael van der Vaart was the exact same.
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