Darren
Anderton

Anderton found the figure, close to the �2m mark, unbelievable especially as at that point in his career he had managed just one full season of professional football - outside of the Carling Premiership with Portsmouth.

It turned out to be some season however because Portsmouth reached the FA Cup semi-finals where they were eventually beaten by Liverpool - but not until after a replay, and only then after a penalty shoot-out.

Anderton certainly made his mark during that campaign and at the end of the season Spurs reached for the chequebook to secure his services.

After the shock wore off it was replaced by a feeling of confidence. "If that was how much they rated me then I had to feel good," he said.

His first outings in the Spurs side did not follow the script as he struggled to find his feet but Anderton has always had his backers and when Doug Livermore, the Spurs coach, called Graham Paddon, the youth coach who guided Anderton at Portsmouth the message was clear - "Stick with Anderton - he'll come good."

Indeed he did. The form that had prompted Spurs to buy him in the first place returned and from there Anderton went on to the England team - but for injury he would be a permanent fixture.

At Portsmouth he had knee ligament trouble and has been kept out of most of the 1995-96 season because of hernia problems, an injury that has bothered him before.

Anderton knows what went wrong in those early days at Tottenham. "It was the first time I had moved from home which was a very big step and I moved into a flat which was a nightmare. It wasn't a very good time all round."

What the quiet and unsassuming Anderton did not reveal while that was going on was the fact that he was playing in pain. When he did admit there was a problem, a hernia was diagnosed and once restored to health he was back to the player he had been before.

Spurs benefitted and there is always the feeling with the club that when they are without Anderton they are left marking time.