Assou-Ekotto (right) playing for Cameroon |
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Benoît Pierre David Assou-Ekotto[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 24 March 1984 | ||
| Place of birth | Arras, France | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) [2] | ||
| Playing position | Left Back | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Tottenham Hotspur | ||
| Number | 32 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1994–2004 | Lens | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2004–2006 | Lens | 66 | (0) |
| 2006– | Tottenham Hotspur | 123 | (1) |
| National team | |||
| 2006– | Cameroon | 17 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Benoît Pierre David Assou-Ekotto (born 24 March 1984) is a French-born Cameroonian footballer who plays for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur as a left back.
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At the age of 10, Assou-Ekotto followed his brother in signing for Lens, before making his league debut on 28 March 2004 against Paris Saint-Germain, which Lens won the game 1–0. He played in 66 games in Ligue 1 for Lens. He then played in seven of eight UEFA Cup matches as Lens went out to Udinese in the last 32. After breaking into the first-team with three appearances in 2003–04, Assou-Ekotto caught the eye with 29 starts in 2004–05. At the start of the 2005–06 season, he played in all of Lens' games in the UEFA Intertoto Cup, as they won that tournament and secured a place in that season's UEFA Cup. In the 2005–06 season, he was an almost ever-present for Lens in the league missing just four of 38 league games as his team finished fourth and again qualified for the UEFA Cup. Assou-Ekotto's outstanding performances throughout the season led to him being praised as one of the best left backs in the country.
In the summer of 2006, Assou-Ekotto moved to Tottenham Hotspur for an undisclosed fee, but the media expected it to be in the region of £3.5 million. Manager Martin Jol and club sporting director Damien Comolli described him as one of the brightest prospects in French football at that time. Assou-Ekotto was expected to provide competition with South Korean Lee Young-Pyo at the left back position, but his performances in pre-season secured him a place in the starting line-up ahead of Lee. He made his full debut in a 2–0 defeat at Bolton Wanderers on the opening day of the 2006-07 season and looked to have unseated Lee until injury saw the Korean win his place back. After picking up a knee injury in December 2006, he appeared to have lost his place in the first-team to Lee and played just two matches throughout the entire 2007-08 season.
When he first arrived in England, Assou-Ekotto spoke little English and he initially struggled at Tottenham. Assou-Ekotto has since argued that his injury changed his attitude to football because he realised that it could have ended his career:
When your surgeon tells you maybe you won't play football anymore many things are different in your mind. Before, when you're injured, your money comes into your account every month and everything is cool. But when they speak to you about the end of your career at 22 or 23… it's why maybe I changed. I'm safe now but this gave me a lesson. That's why I changed many things in my mind and in my life.[3]
At the start of the 2008-09 season, Spurs made their worst ever start to a campaign since 1912, losing six and drawing two of their opening eight matches. At that time, Assou-Ekotto's chances of first-team football were limited and he still claimed that he wanted to leave England to go back to French football, even after Juande Ramos was sacked and replaced by Harry Redknapp. Redknapp decided to give Assou-Ekotto the chance to play in the team. He improved rapidly with regular games and became first choice towards the end of the 2008-09 season. Having regained his fitness in the 2008-09 season, he became the North-London club's first-choice left back due to a string of good performances under Redknapp. Such performances have led to Assou-Ekotto earning plaudits internationally and he is now regarded as a quality Premier League full back. He started the 2009 League Cup final against Manchester United, where he played exceptionally well up against Cristiano Ronaldo. Even though Tottenham lost the match on penalties, Assou-Ekotto made left back his own position for the rest of the season as he made such a performance throughout the final. Since then, manager Redknapp has praised Assou-Ekotto, saying "I think he has been injured before but I have been very impressed with him this season as he has been in great form. He has looked an outstanding left back."[4]
He scored his first career goal in a 2-1 win over Liverpool on the opening weekend of the 2009–10 season with a half-volley from 20 yards.[5] He was rewarded for this fine form with a four-year contract extension on 19 August. During mid-season, he temporarily lost his place to youngster Gareth Bale but regained it when Redknapp moved Bale onto the left wing.[6] He has been a regular starter for Tottenham in the 2010–11 Premier League.
Assou-Ekotto made his debut for Cameroon against Guinea in a friendly match on the 11 February 2009.[7] He also played the full 90 minutes in Cameroon's 1–0 surprise World Cup qualifying defeat to Togo on 28 March 2009. He was named in Cameroon's 2010 Africa Cup of Nations squad but was forced to withdraw prior to the tournament due to injury. Assou-Ekotto was also named in Paul Le Guen's final 23-man roster for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and played every minute of Cameroon's three matches.[8]
In an interview with the BBC in February 2011, Assou-Ekotto stated that he was encouraged to play for the France national under-16 football team as a teenager, but that "I told them I don't need to go because there is no point to wear the French shirt, I don't have feelings with French players".[3] In an interview with The Guardian in May 2010, he stated:
Me playing for Cameroon was a natural and normal thing. I have no feeling for the France national team; it just doesn't exist. When people ask of my generation in France, 'Where are you from?', they will reply Morocco, Algeria, Cameroon or wherever. But what has amazed me in England is that when I ask the same question of people like Lennon and Defoe, they'll say: 'I'm English.' That's one of the things that I love about life here.[9]
Assou-Ekotto is known for his forthright social commentary. In 2010, he sparked controversy with his criticism of the inconsistency between the public and private opinions of Premier League footballers, claiming that he was "always honest", though he added that he did not believe that the truth was always "good to say".[10] In 2011, he drew further attention when he commented that football was "just a job",[11] explaining that his primary motivation for playing the game professionally was the wage collected rather than intrinsic pleasure:
I have never bought into the hypocrisy of football but perhaps I’m more strident in my views now. I’m lucky and appreciate what I have, but football is just a job, a means to an end... there are more important things in life than kicking a ball around... Yes, I play for the money but then doesn’t everybody who gets up in the morning and goes to work? They do it to provide for their family. It infuriates me when footballers go on about playing for the shirt. I think they should be held accountable for it when they kiss the badge and six months later clear off for a better pay day.[12]
He maintained a similar philosophy during the 2011 Luka Modric transfer saga, asserting that a football player could be expected to transfer to a new club if his parent club failed to match other teams' higher wage offers.[13]
Since arriving at Spurs, Assou-Ekotto has pursued an interest in the local community and its inhabitants, expressing a "great sense of connection to Tottenham". He carries an Oyster card and frequents the London Underground, and often walks with Tottenham supporters towards the stadium before home matches. During the London riots, the outspoken footballer suggested in an interview with BBC Sport that his colleagues do more to mitigate geopolitical issues, such as donating a hundredth of their salaries towards local causes.[14][15] Assou-Ekotto himself made a "significant contribution" to the London Evening Standard's Dispossessed Fund.[16] In his personal column for the same daily, he wrote at length on his experiences mingling with locals both during the riots and after with the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation:
During and just after the riots, I thought a lot about the challenges we face as a society. One thing I do think is just how separated we are even though technology has made the world smaller... I try to meet and talk with the residents in [Tottenham] as much as possible, hoping to better understand the challenges people face in their lives... Maybe growing up in a small town or coming from a small African nation makes me like the idea of community.[17]
He is the younger brother of fellow professional football player Mathieu Assou-Ekotto.
| Club | League | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Lens | Ligue 1 | 2003–04 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 2004-05 | 29 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 1 | ||
| 2005-06 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 41 | 0 | ||
| Club Total | 66 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 73 | 1 | ||
| Tottenham Hotspur | Premier League | 2006-07 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| 2007-08 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 2008-09 | 29 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 36 | 0 | ||
| 2009-10 | 30 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 1 | ||
| 2010-11 | 30 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 44 | 0 | ||
| 2011-12 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 0 | ||
| Club Total | 125 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 163 | 1 | ||
| Career Total | 181 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 228 | 2 | ||
RC Lens
Tottenham Hotspur
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