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- Spurs icon and 21-cap England international Ledley King headlines the latest Jeff Stelling Show with OLBG
- King predicts Tottenham can finish in the top six and "wouldn't be surprised" if they push for the top four under Roberto De Zerbi
- Also opens up on the surgeon's warning that ended his career at 31, his tearful World Cup ordeal under an Italian medic who "reduced Gattuso to tears", and the Thierry Henry tribute that still gives him pride
Ledley King is latest guest on The Jeff Stelling Show
The latest episode of The Jeff Stelling Show, brought to you by OLBG, is out now, and one of Tottenham's most beloved figures joins Jeff for a quietly compelling hour that spans the very best and the very hardest of his one-club career.
Ledley King reflects on the injury that cut him short, the day at Wembley that made it all worthwhile, and looks ahead to what he believes could be a genuinely exciting new era at Spurs under Roberto De Zerbi.
"Top four wouldn't surprise me" — King's verdict on De Zerbi's Spurs
After back-to-back 17th-place finishes, King believes Tottenham are ready to climb, and quickly. "I think we'd be a top six side, and it wouldn't surprise me if we were in the top four," he tells Jeff, pointing to uncertainty at Liverpool under a new manager, an unsettled Chelsea and the post-Pep transition at Manchester City.
He's a firm believer in the new manager: "I think he's been fantastic. I think he's come in and made a huge difference… mainly it was about players playing with their heart, and I think he managed to get that out of them."
King praises the summer recruitment of Van Hecke, Senesi, Andy Robertson and Martin Dubravka as evidence that De Zerbi is "starting from the back… building a foundation," but is honest about the balance still needed in midfield and up front.
"You'll be in a wheelchair in your mid-thirties" — the moment King knew
The most powerful passage of the episode comes when King relives the surgeon's conversation that ended his career at 31. After a bright start to his final season and a return against Manchester City in which he was pushing through fluid drained from his knee, he gave away a late penalty to Mario Balotelli that he identifies as "the beginning of the end for me."
"After speaking to my surgeon at the end of the season, he said, 'Look, you're going to be in a wheelchair in your mid-thirties if you keep going.' So I had to take that advice, and by that point I knew it was time."
He is honest, too, about the toll of years spent training alone in the pool and the gym while his teammates trained together in the snow.
"Looking back now, I was probably slightly depressed… as a footballer all you want to do is actually play football, train, have a laugh with the lads. You want to be in the trenches with them."
Bale, Modric, and a grassroots side to make you look twice
There is warmth throughout the episode. King reflects on watching a young Gareth Bale: "I thought he could maybe be the best left back in the world one day", and Luka Modric, who he initially thought was a No. 10 before the Croatian dropped deeper and became one of the great midfielders of his generation.
And in a jaw-dropping piece of grassroots trivia, King reveals that his boyhood Sunday-league team produced five Premier League footballers: himself, Paul Konchesky, Bobby Zamora, Jlloyd Samuel and John Terry.
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From a Sunday-league side that produced five top-flight footballers to a surgeon's warning that ended one of the great modern defensive careers, this is a quietly extraordinary hour with a man who gave Tottenham everything.
Head to OLBG's YouTube channel and podcast feed to watch and listen to the full episode of The Jeff Stelling Show with Ledley King now.
