King of the Lane ends his reign
LEDLEY KING’S retirement prompts questions about what might have been for the former Tottenham defender but the issue for Spurs now is what happens next.
King announced yesterday he was quitting football at the age of 31, after years of battling injuries and with no cartilage remaining in his left knee.
He departs after 323 first-team appearances and 14 goals for Tottenham, the club he joined when he was 14 and with whom he won the Carling Cup in 2008.
He earned 21 England caps, scoring two goals, but the numbers don’t do justice to King’s enormous talent in central defence. His hampered movement and lack of speed began to be exposed in the second half of last season, but you can’t help but wonder what he might have achieved if his body had been as strong as his impeccable reading of the game.
Those silken performances, delivered in recent years after training only in the gym or pool, once prompted former manager Harry Redknapp to liken King to a Rolls-Royce. Spurs chairman Daniel Levy yesterday called King ‘ one of the most gifted players in the history of the club’ and Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon urged the club to retire King’s No 26 shirt. ‘The best defender I’ve ever played with or against,’ Lennon added on Twitter. ‘He will be missed greatly. Legend.’
King told Tottenham’s website: ‘I have missed a lot of football over the years, but the Spurs fans have always been patient and incredibly supportive with me. Sadly my injuries and inability to train have now finally brought an end to my career.
‘Tottenham is a second home for me. I have been here since I was a boy, I have always considered it my club and have always found it hard to imagine wearing the shirt of another team.
‘I know that being a one-club man is a rarity these days, but I have always enjoyed being part of the set-up here and the challenge of putting this club with the elite where it should be.’
King’s loyalty — and the club’s allegiance to a defender who has played only 44 matches in the past two seasons — means he will continue to represent Spurs as an ambassador. A testimonial match will also take place at the end of this season. Andre Villas-Boas praised King’s ‘ tremendous past’ last week. This feels like the right decision for King, but now the Spurs boss must try to replace him. Numbers are not the problem, with William Gallas and Sebastien Bassong linked with moves away from White Hart Lane, but finding the right partnership may take time and that is in short supply if Villas- Boas’s bid to win the title is to be a realistic one. New signing Jan Vertonghen, 25, will be making his debut in the Premier League this season, most likely alongside Younes Kaboul or Michael Dawson. Steven Caulker is another intriguing option. How Tottenham cope with life after Ledley could be the key to their chances of success this season.