Surprisingly, Jermain Defoe has named Wilson Palacios as the player whose arrival most excited him during his time at Tottenham, admitting that Spurs desperately needed a player of the Honduran’s profile at the time.
Palacios arrived at Tottenham in January of 2009 after an excellent year at Wigan, with the midfielder being one of Harry Redknapp’s first signings at White Hart Lane.
He had an excellent start to his Spurs career, forming a formidable partnership with Jermaine Jenas in the middle of the park.
However, the midfielder found himself falling down the pecking order after Redknapp decided to move Luka Modric from the left to the middle, with the Croat often partnering Tom Huddlestone during the 2009-10 season as Spurs qualified for the Champions League for the first time.
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Wilson Palacios blew Jermain Defoe away at Spurs
Defoe has now admitted that he was excited as soon as he saw Palacios in training at the old Spurs Lodge, remarking that the team needed a hard-tackling midfielder like him.
The former Tottenham striker said on Football Firsts on the BBC Sounds: “There was one right, Wilson Palacios. In those times he was eating people up.
“We were linked with him, and I was excited about this, Tottenham – I thought we needed someone like that. We could all play, but we need someone like that in the team.
“I was excited about it. But that first session, he must have clamped someone. We have all turned around and gone ‘woah’. You know when you are at certain clubs, at Tottenham, we were all nice, everyone could play. When he came in it was something completely different.
“He just ran over a smashed someone, smashed someone again, and I looked at Harry and thought yeah, I was buzzing. I was just like this is just next level.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Palacios had absolutely everything to his game when he first arrived at Spurs and it is not an exaggeration to say that he was absolutely world-class during his first six months at the club.
However, the midfielder was never the same player since he suffered a horrible personal tragedy, with his brother being murdered. That is something he has opened up about since (Daily Star).
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