Benoît Assou-Ekotto

Benoît Pierre David Assou-Ekotto (born 24 March 1984) is a former professional footballer who played as a left back.

He is most well-known for his seven seasons at Tottenham Hotspur.

Benoît Pierre David Assou-Ekotto was born on 24 March 1984 in Arras, Pas-de-Calais.

He was born to a Cameroonian father and French mother.

His father, David, was a professional footballer in France and introduced him to the sport.

After breaking into the first-team with three appearances in 2003–04, Assou-Ekotto caught the eye with 29 starts in 2004–05.

Assou-Ekotto came up through the youth ranks at Lens where he made his first-team debut in 2004.

At the age of ten, Assou-Ekotto followed his brother in signing for Lens, before making his Ligue 1 debut on 28 March 2004 against Paris Saint-Germain, which Lens won the match 1–0.

He played in 66 matches in Ligue 1 for Lens.

He then played in seven of eight UEFA Cup matches as Lens fell to Udinese in the round of 32.

At the start of the 2005–06 season, he played in all of Lens' matches 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 matches 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 2006, he was signed by Tottenham Hotspur.

He became a first-team regular for the Premier League club, totalling 200 appearances across all competitions.

In the summer of 2006, Assou-Ekotto moved to Tottenham Hotspur for an undisclosed fee, though estimated to be in the region of £3.5 million by the media.

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.

Assou-Ekotto made his full debut in a 2–0 defeat at Bolton Wanderers on the opening day of the 2006–07 Premier League season and looked to have unseated Lee until he picked up a knee injury in December.

He then appeared to have lost his place to Lee and played just two matches throughout the entire 2007–08 season due to another injury.

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."

At the start of the 2008–09 season, Tottenham made their worst start to a campaign since 1912, losing six and drawing two of their opening eight Premier League matches.

At that time, Assou-Ekotto's chances of first-team football were limited and he claimed that he wanted to leave England to go back to French football.

However, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp decided to give Assou-Ekotto the chance to play in the team.

He improved rapidly with regular matches 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.

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.

On 19 August 2009, he signed an extension to his contract keeping him at the club until June 2013.

Manager Redknapp 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."

Assou-Ekotto scored his first career goal in a 2–1 win over Liverpool on the opening weekend of the 2009–10 Premier League season with a half-volley from 20 yards.

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.

Assou-Ekotto started the 2012–13 season well with a career fifth goal from 25 yards out against West Bromwich Albion, but was sidelined after three league matches with a knee injury.

He was loaned to Queens Park Rangers in 2013 and released in 2015, after which he joined Saint-Étienne.

The final club of his career was Ligue 1 club Metz.

He represented the Cameroon national team at the international level.

He participated in two FIFA World Cup tournaments.