Tottenham Hotspur have had quite the churn of players over the years, leading to a long list of former Spurs men that you’d be surprised are still turning out away from the spotlight.
Whether they’re cult heroes or players who barely scratched the surface at White Hart Lane, all of these have continued playing for a long time after leaving Tottenham. They’re clearly doing something right.
Here are six former Tottenham players we can’t believe are still playing in 2024.
Nacer Chadli
Is Nacer Chadli contracted to a club and actually playing football professionally right now? Well, no.
But the 35-year-old Belgian was turning out in his home country for lesser-known Westerlo, following three years away at Istanbul Basaksehir, as recently as a few months ago.
He was released at the end of last season and is presumably now looking for another club, having shown no intention of hanging up his boots just yet.
Feel cheated with that one? Well you can have Paulinho, Benjamin Stambouli, Federico Fazio and Jake Livermore as bonuses. All are in the same boat as Chadli, veteran free agents after leaving their respective clubs in the summer. Call it five for the price of one.
Vlad Chiriches
Another long-forgotten name from Tottenham’s infamous “sold Elvis but bought The Beatles” era, the Romanian centre-back Steaua Bucharest in that heady summer of 2013. He failed to convince during his two years in North London and was promptly sold on to Napoli, where he spent five years but was similarly underwhelming.
After almost a decade in Italy, 34-year-old Chiriches returned to Steaua last summer – albeit the Romanian club is technically a different entity nowadays, known as FCSB.
Lewis Holtby
The former Germany international was talked up as a technical midfield maestro when he signed from Schalke as a fresh-faced youngster way back in 2013.
But it soon became clear Eriksen Mk.II Hotltby was not and after a couple of loans away he signed for Hamburg in 2015.
A few years later he made an eyebrow-raising return to English football, going on to play over 50 times in the Championship for Blackburn Rovers.
Then he dropped off the footballing radar once again, signing for German second-tier outfit Holstein Kiel in 2021. He’s captained the club to promotion and is now playing in a major European league again for the first time in six years.
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Iago Falque
Signed as a promising teenager from Juventus, Falque made a grand total of one Premier League appearance for Spurs.
The Spanish forward never quite convinced in a series of loans away, and eventually he was sold on to Genoa. He subsequently spent the next years as something of a journeyman in Italian football before the left-field switch to Colombian club America de Cali in 2022.
Now he’s turning out for Costa Rican giants Liga Deportiva Alajuelense.
Here at Planet Football, we love it when a European makes the lesser-travelled path across the Atlantic. Jamal Lewis at Sao Paulo will take some beating on that front.
Adel Taarabt
Better known for tearing the Championship a new one at Queens Park Rangers, the streets won’t forget Taarabt but they’re unlikely to remember his unremarkable time on the fringes at Tottenham.
The mercurial Moroccan made a grand total of nine Premier League appearances for Spurs before moving on to Loftus Road.
You might recall his latter years at Benfica, in which he would occasionally catch the eye on the European stage, but since 2022 he’s been playing away from the spotlight out at Al-Nasr – the United Arab Emirates club, not to be confused with the Saudi Pro League outfit that employs Cristiano Ronaldo.
Luka Modric
Look, we know we’re not telling you anything you don’t know here.
Modric is still turning out for the biggest club in world football, and just last season won his sixth Champions League title with Real Madrid. You don’t get much more renowned than that.
But take stock for a second and the fact that Modric is still turning out at such a high level is absolutely ridiculous.
He turns 39 next week and is still captaining his country on the international stage, having well over a thousand games and god knows how many minutes in his legs already.
The Croatian icon was almost 27 when he left Spurs for Los Blancos way back in 2012, and it’s now six years since he broke Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Ballon d’Or duopoly as a celebrated veteran.
So yes, taking the headline literally, we really can’t believe Modric is still going like this.