Aaron Lennon has opened up about how he earned staggering figures with Leeds United during their extraordinary financial meltdown, which led to him joining Tottenham Hotspur.
Lennon became one of the most-coveted youngsters in the country after making his debut at the age of 16 in August 2003, ironically against Spurs.
At the time, Leeds had been battling against horrendous financial mismanagement from the Peter Risdale regime, and Lennon's contract reflected the absurd numbers involved despite being only a teenager.
When he was just 14 years of age, Lennon signed a contract that included huge bonuses and appearance fees that would eventually cripple Leeds just for playing him.
He claimed his contract included clauses that saw him earn £10,000 for every appearance, and £100,000 after every five senior outings when he turned professional.
“Mine was done quite ruthlessly. Ken Bates came in and to be fair to him, I didn’t understand at the time but my contract was good," Lennon said on Rio Ferdinand’s Five podcast.
"It was £5,000 a week, as soon as [I] turned pro, and £10,000 an appearance. The incentives were crazy. It was like every time I played five games, I would get £100k.
"At that time I signed, I was 14. So they are thinking 'he isn’t going to play', there was no money in it unless you played. But then I started breaking in.
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"My contract was silly looking back. It was crazy numbers and they were thinking 'he won’t play'. But then I started playing.
"I was on the bench and they couldn’t put me on because I was going to hit one of those appearances."
Lennon ended up sitting on the bench for that very reason, with manager Peter Reid supposedly hamstrung by the financial weight that came with playing their promising winger.
Eventually, his team-mates and the fans made it clear that Lennon should be playing, leaving the manager with no choice but to put him on.
"I remember Gary Kelly going mad and saying our best player is on the bench now, our most in-form winger is on the bench. I was just sat there and Leeds fans were singing my name," he added.
"But eventually he [Reid] put me on because it got that bad with the fans singing my name they had to put me on."
But his time at Elland Road was cut short when chairman Ken Bates, the former Chelsea owner, forced him out of the club after agreeing to sell him to Spurs following their relegation from the Premier League.
"I remember at the end of the season Ken Bates told me 'you are done at this club'. Because of the money," Lennon said. "It wasn’t even in a nice way. And I was like 'this is my hometown'.
"I was upset and I remember going away and got the call saying they have accepted a bid, you are going Tottenham."
Lennon would go on to make a success of his time in the capital after arriving in the summer of 2004 for just £1million, scoring 30 goals in 364 appearances in a 10-year spell with the north London outfit.
The former England international went on to have spells with Everton, Burnley and Kayserispor in Turkey before ending his career with the Clarets at Turf Moor in 2022.
Now 37, Lennon is working closely with the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) as he begins his coaching career.