Jermain Defoe has now been discussing the Tottenham Hotspur player who blew him away with his first touch in North London.
Defoe, who certainly knew how to control a football himself, played with some real Spurs legends during his time at the club
The former England striker was only recently talking about Luka Modric’s passing at White Hart Lane too, demonstrating just how many talents have passed through the side.
Of course, Ange Postecoglou’s current squad do have one or two who could fall into the iconic category in years to come.
Perhaps James Maddison is destined to be a Tottenham great, alongside the likes of Micky van de Ven who could also head in that direction.
But when considering his former Spurs teammates on the ‘Defoe & Deeney Football Firsts’ podcast, Defoe was reminiscing about the days of Dimitar Berbatov at the club.
The Tottenham talisman was delightful to watch during his 229 Premier League appearances, 70 of those coming at Spurs.
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And when speaking on the podcast, Defoe was convinced that Berbatov had the best first touch he’d ever seen at Tottenham, or anywhere in his career.
Jermain Defoe says Tottenham teammate Dimitar Berbatov had the best first touch he’d ever seen
Defoe admitted that Berbatov could sometimes look lazy in his demeanour, but said that was just part of his brilliance.
He said: “One of the best touches I’ve ever seen.
“When he came to Tottenham and I first saw him, because you know what it’s like, it only takes five minutes to see someone in training and know he’s going to help us.
“Just effortless, so consistent with it as well, like so clever.
“When you look at Berba right, his upper body is really skinny, but [he had] big legs and the way he used to use his body, he used to bump a defender like with good timing and just control it.
“He’s so calm and his movement looked so lazy but he was so effective, he was just like wow.”
Of course, it would be interesting to consider which of the current Tottenham players would fall into that category.
Defoe has also praised James Maddison today, perhaps the player most likely to be able to rival Berbatov’s first touch at Spurs in this current era.
