JAN VERTONGHEN says he made the right call to snub Arsenal and join Spurs.
In 2012, the Belgium defender had the pick of North London but decided to sign for Tottenham.
Vertonghen, who cost £8million from Ajax, was one of former boss Andre Villas-Boas’s first buys, and has since racked up over 230 games for the club.
Ahead of today’s derby, he said: “It was as close as it can get.
“My agent went to Arsenal, I wasn’t there myself, but it was very respectful and in the end I had to make a choice and I chose Spurs.
“You never know about playing time. At that time, my feeling was for Spurs and I think I made a good choice.
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“It was the way they approached me, they wanted a left-footed centre-back. You obviously have to play well and train well — but I never looked back.
“I followed my gut feeling and I think it’s turned out well.
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“I felt I was joining a great team, with great plans and the personal chats I had with people at Spurs were great.”
Vertonghen, 30, has seen Spurs transformed under current boss Mauricio Pochettino and while they have not won any silverware yet, he feels it is only a matter of time.
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He added: “We’re building a great team with the manager and the new stadium is coming up.
“The confidence in the team has never been so big. We feel that as well.
“We feel we can beat anyone, we’ve shown that in the Champions League when we beat Real Madrid.
“We have shown that against Man United, Liverpool on Sunday when I think we dominated them and it was a great boost for the team.”
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A win at Wembley will move Spurs into the top four, but Vertonghen says he and his team-mates do not need any added motivation when they face the Gunners.
He said: “I don’t think we ever need any motivation. If you see how we approach games, even against Newport in the FA Cup, we’re always very professional.
“It’s the third game in a row against a top six rival and we’ve done well in the other two.”
JAN VERTONGHEN was supporting the first-ever National Schools’ Football Week, staged in association with the PlayStation Schools’ Cup. Visit www.playstationschoolscup.com
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