I met with Tottenham but completed Arsenal transfer when Spurs paid for taxi to take me there – I didn’t realise magnitude of north London derby
Tottenham believed they were about to sign Emmanuel Petit in 1997, but Arsenal hatched a plan to pull off the mother of all transfer hijacks.
This was a period of great success for the Gunners — Dennis Bergkamp and David Platt were added to the squad that summer, while Arsene Wenger was appointed manager in 1996 and transformed them forever.
So when it was put to France international Petit: Do you want to fight relegation or challenge for Premier League titles, it was a no-brainer.
Petit was in London, talking to Spurs chairman Alan Sugar about moving to the capital from Monaco. Arsenal heard about the meeting and got word to him not to sign anything until he had at least heard Wenger's pitch about this new era that was about to unfold at Highbury.
That seemed fair enough considering Wenger was the man who brought him through at the French club, so Petit asked Tottenham bosses for time to think about the offer at his hotel.
Spurs even paid for the taxi to drive him there, but the cab was instead diverted to Wenger's house where he was joined by vice-chairman David Dein and a £3.5m deal was sealed.
Speaking to Andy Goldstein on talkSPORT Drive, Petit recalled: “I had meetings on the same day with Tottenham and Arsenal. I met Tottenham in the morning, but when I came to England I didn’t know about the rivalry between the two clubs.
«When I left the Spurs stadium, they booked me a cab and the cab driver asked me for directions, so I gave him the Arsenal address and I didn’t realise that the cab was pre-paid by Spurs, so they knew where I was going!
»I told Spurs that I needed time to think about it but knew that I had to see Arsenal, as well as other clubs in Italy and Spain.
“I told everyone that I’d make my mind up and when I
Read on talksport.com
