Harry Redknapp was left with his head in his hands after Benoit Assou-Ekotto admitted he didn’t know who Tottenham’s blockbuster new signing was.
The year was 2010 and Redknapp was building a promising Spurs side with global superstars aplenty.
While already boasting Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Jermaine Defoe in their roster, Tottenham brought in Rafael van der Vaart on transfer deadline day in the summer of 2010 in an £8million deal that certainly got tongues wagging.
Joining from Real Madrid, the Dutch star was the real deal and seen by many as the last piece of the jigsaw in a Spurs side who were ready to challenge for major honours.
But while the superstar signing left fans very excited, the hype and hysteria of the deal was lost on Assou-Ekotto.
The French defender has a reputation for being an ‘anti-footballer’ as he saw the game as simply a job and refused to be drawn into the celebrity fanfare that came with life as a Premier League star.
Asked if it’s true that Assou-Ekotto didn’t like football, his Spurs teammate Sebastien Bassong told Inside Spurs: “That’s 110 per cent true.
“Benoit, I had him on my podcast a long time ago and he found out that he was good at football but he’s so down to earth and he’s now back in France living in a small village and doesn’t do anything.
“He doesn’t travel – he’s travelled too much, that’s what he said, he’s just taking care of his kids.”
Responding to a comment that Assou-Ekotto would be a better fit in today’s game where players are more protected and enjoy more privacy, Bassong said: “He said that he wouldn’t because he’s too truthful.
“If he was saying things he thought that the narrative would be twisted and his words on social media.
“But if you’re talking about Rafa, do you know the story about when Benoit met Rafa (Van der Vaart) for the first time?
“Rafa signed for Spurs on the last day of the transfer window and the next day we had a team photo so Rafa was there and Benoit was late and was sitting next to me and Rafa was coming with Harry (Redknapp).
“Harry was introducing him to everybody and everybody knew who he was because he’d come from Real Madrid.
“He came to Benoit and he said to me, ‘who is that?’
“Harry introduced them and said: ‘Rafa, this is Benoit’ and Benoit was like, ‘what’s your name?’
“He didn’t have a clue about who Rafa Van der Vaart was and Harry got so embarrassed and was like, ‘don’t worry, don’t worry’.
“But that’s how he was. Before a game he’d be playing and he’d ask me, ‘the player I’m up against, is he left-footed or right-footed? I’ll deal with him, just give me some clues’.”
That season, Tottenham secured a fifth place finish in the Premier League and made it all the way to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
They then finished fourth in the Premier League in 2011/12, reaching the semi-finals of the FA Cup in the process.
Van der Vaart went on to spend two seasons with Tottenham in which he scored 28 goals and provided 18 assists in 77 games in north London.
Meanwhile, Assou-Ekotto made over 200 appearances for Spurs and is fondly remembered as something of a cult hero for the Lilywhites.