41 League apps (+19 as sub), 14 goals
Freddie Kanoute arrived at White Hart Lane in the summer of 2003 for
what at the time was deemed a relatively modest fee of £3.5 million. The
elegant striker, with what appeared at times a laissez-faire approach
to football, came to Tottenham following the relegation of West Ham from
the Premiership the previous season and made an immediate impact,
scoring on his debut against Leeds United in a 2-1 victory. Things for
the club took a turn for the worse when manager Glenn Hoddle was sacked
after a poor run of results only six weeks into the season and although
Kanoute retained his placed under caretaker manager David Pleat (who
remained in charge for the rest of the season), he caused controversy in
February 2004 when he decided to change his national allegiance from
France to Mali in order to represent his parents birth nation in the
African Nations Cup.
This left Tottenham with a dearth of strikers and
on his return a month later, Kanoute found himself pushed down the
pecking order behind his old West Ham team mate Jermaine Defoe, who had
joined late on in the winter transfer window. As well as the arrival of
Defoe, form and fitness eluded Freddie for the rest of the season and he
failed to score another goal for the remainder of the campaign, despite
which he still finished as Tottenham's second top scorer with 16 goals,
seven of those coming in the league. The start of the 2004/05 saw the
appointment of Jacques Santini as manager and while the similar
attributes of Robbie Keane and Defoe meant they had to battle it out for
a starting place, the tall and muscular Kanoute (deemed the perfect
foil to his smaller striking partner) was all but assured of his first
team spot. Santini lasted only two months in charge however and was soon
replaced by first team coach Martin Jol, who like his predecessor also
preferred the 'little and large' partnership up-front and Kanoute
remained a regular, featuring in thirty two league games (22+10) and
once again scoring seven league goals.
However, the arrival of Mido - a
player in a similar mould to Freddie - in January 2005, had cast doubt
over Kanoute's long term future at the club and although he scored two
goals in his penultimate game at White Hart Lane in a 5-1 drubbing of
Aston Villa, he was sold in August 2005 to Spanish club Sevilla for £4.4
million. (Robbie Canale)
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CLUB CAREER:
1997–2000 Lyon 40 (9)
2000–2003 West Ham United 84 (29)
2003–2005 Tottenham Hotspur 60 (15)
2005–2012 Sevilla 209 (89)
2012–2013 Beijing Guoan 38 (12)
Total Games 427 (152 goals)