Jermain Defoe has admitted that former Tottenham midfielder Etienne Capoue was very talented.
Capoue joined Spurs in a £9.4m deal from Toulouse in the summer of 2013, with Andre Villas-Boas signing him to compete with Sandro for the number six spot.
The Frenchman was quite highly rated when he arrived at Spurs, having been considered one of the best young talents in Ligue 1 at the time.
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However, the midfielder never quite managed to get a consistent run of starts at Tottenham and was eventually sold to Watford for £6m in 2015.
The midfielder played 167 times for the Hornets during his six seasons at the club before joining Villarreal in 2021/
Capoue shared the dressing room with Troy Deeney at Vicarage Road and the former Watford captain admitted in his conversation with Defoe on the Football Firsts Podcast that he and the former Frenchman frequently argued.
Defoe agreed that the former Toulouse star was quite argumentative, with both strikers admitting they were in awe of the 35-year-old’s talent.
Deeney said “No one’s backing down, but no one’s going in with the intention of hurting the other person. I’m on you, you’re on me, and it ended up fueling us.
“Like I say, it’s [Etienne Capoue] Caps, if you put both of us morally, we’re the same kind of person. He wants to win, and loves his family similar to me, but our personalities are so different. Did you play with Etienne at Tottenham?”
Jermain Defoe replied: “Yep. He’s good isn’t he?” to which Deeney responded: “How talented is he? He’s a joke,” before Defoe added: “Oh my god. I used to argue with him all the time at Tottenham, but he gives it back though.”
Deeney concluded: “Unbelievable player, probably the best I’ve played with because he just had so much about him.”
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Capoue seemed like he had everything to be a world-class number six, including unreal athleticism, technical quality and a good reading of the game. However, for one reason or another, he never quite managed to fulfil his potential.
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