Poor Tottenham.
Years before Chelsea made a mockery of them by signing Willian after the winger had completed a medical at White Hart Lane, Arsenal did the same thing – only this one seemed a lot harder to stomach.
In 1997 Emmanuel Petit was in London, talking to Tottenham chairman Alan Sugar about moving from Monaco. Arsenal heard about the meeting and got word to him not to sign anything until the midfielder had at least heard what manager Arsene Wenger had to say.
That seemed fair enough considering Wenger was the man who brought him through at the French club, so Petit asked Sugar for time to think about the offer at his hotel.
Spurs even paid for the taxi to drive him there, but the player instead diverted the cab to Wenger’s house where he was joined by vice-chairman David Dein, who sealed the £3.5m deal.
“It was the first time I met David Dein and Tottenham paid for the cab to help me sign for Arsenal,” he said in 2018. “It’s part of the legend now.
“I knew the rivalry but not how big it was. David Dein still loves that story – and [more than] 20 years later he’s still telling it!”
His transfer was began the start of Wenger’s revolution, with Gilles Grimandi and Nicolas Anelka also arriving at Highbury. Times were changing and for the better.
By the end of the pony-tailed Petit’s first season, the midfielder was a Premier League and FA Cup winner, his partnership with Patrick Vieira in midfield lauded and he even found time to help Sun Hill’s finest with an appearance on The Bill.
But those long blond locks may never have been seen by British fans, as Ray Parlour and friends threatened to cut them off if his attitude didn’t improve.
“When the French lads came over, the atmosphere was a little different,” Parlour told talkSPORT.
“Us British guys had a little bit more fun.
“Dennis Bergkamp was another one, they were a little more bit serious and we tried to get a bit of fun out of them.
“They did change quickly and they did really enjoy the banter, but every now again, for example, Manu Petit sometimes would walk straight past you.
“You’d say, ‘morning, Manu’, and he’d walk straight past you.
“He did it to all the players. He did it to Tony Adams, he did it to David Seaman and that’s not acceptable.
“Whatever problems you have, you say good morning to somebody, don’t you? It’s very rude if you just walk past someone. It’s just having that respect for other people.
“So, one morning we nailed him against the wall and told him: ‘Make sure you say good morning to everybody because, if you don’t, we’ll cut your ponytail off!’
“We even had scissors.
“After that, he was good as gold!”
And Gooners everywhere have Tottenham to thank for it.
Click Here: liverpool mens jersey