Summary
Emmanuel Petit nearly signed with Tottenham in 1997 and met with Lord Alan Sugar in London.
Arsenal caught wind of the meeting and convinced the Frenchman to make the move to Highbury.
Petit would go on to win the Premier League and FA Cup in his first season.
There are some rivalries in football that are not to be messed around with. The Old Firm derby is one. Manchester United's and Liverpool's is steeped in history. But the North London derby can sometimes be as ferocious as they come.
The intense hatred – as there is no other way to describe it – between Arsenal and Tottenham makes it one of the fiercest rivalries in not just the English, but also the British game. 99 times out of 100, you are either a red or a white. It is why there are so few examples of players featuring for both clubs in their careers. More often than not, when you decide to play for one, your chances of featuring for the other are second to none.
That was the conundrum that midfielder Emmanuel Petit faced in the mid-1990s. The Monaco holding midfielder was making quite a name for himself in his homeland, and would eventually be snapped up by the Gunners in 1997. However, the man himself once revealed just how close he came to moving to the other side of the city, and how he even took a taxi from a Tottenham meeting to go and sign with their greatest enemy.
How Petit Nearly Ended up at Tottenham
Emmanuel Petit points during his Arsenal days. Photo courtesy of Reuters.
The story goes that Petit was in London to explore a move from Monaco to the Premier League, holding talks with Tottenham and their chairman Alan Sugar. While discussions were unfolding, Arsenal became aware of the situation and quickly made contact, urging Petit to delay any decision until he had a chance to hear Arsene Wenger’s pitch about the club’s future plans.
Having played under Wenger at Monaco, where the French coach had played a major role in his development, Petit was naturally interested. Curious about the opportunity to reunite with a manager known for building careers, he told Spurs he needed some time to consider everything and headed back to his hotel to think it over.
Years later, speaking to talkSPORT, Petit revealed how events unfolded - and how a taxi arranged by Tottenham ended up taking him straight to their fiercest rivals:
"I had meetings on the same day with Tottenham and Arsenal and had a meeting with Tottenham in the morning, but when I came to England I didn’t know about the rivalry between the two clubs.
"When I left the Spurs stadium, they booked me a cab and the cab driver asked me for directions, so I gave him the Arsenal address and I didn’t realise that the cab was pre-paid by Spurs, so they knew where I was going!
"I’d told Spurs that I needed time to think about it but knew that I had to see Arsenal, as well as other clubs in Italy and Spain. I told everyone that I’d make my mind up and when I knew the answer I would give it, but after a couple of days I signed for Arsenal and it went into newspapers and all of a sudden the story came. I realised the pressure of the rivalry then."
In the end, the move worked out perfectly for the Frenchman he won the double with Arsenal in his debut season and lifted the World Cup with Les Bleus that same summer. Tottenham, meanwhile, ended the season closer to relegation than the top six, despite big-name additions funded by Sugar, including Les Ferdinand and David Ginola from Newcastle, who had nearly toppled Manchester United just a season earlier.
They also pulled off a surprise coup by bringing back German striker Jurgen Klinsmann, whose trademark dive celebration made a return to White Hart Lane.
Petit's Successful Arsenal Career
Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit
Petit's move to Arsenal paid off instantly, as he played a key role in helping the club secure a Premier League and FA Cup double in his debut season. The French midfielder featured 44 times across all competitions that year, contributing two goals and nine assists, and capped it off by lifting the only league title of his career.
That double-winning campaign would prove to be the peak of his time at Highbury. The following seasons were dominated by Manchester United — first with their historic treble in 1999, then a successful title defence — while Chelsea claimed the FA Cup in 2000.
After winning Euro 2000 with France, Petit brought his three-year spell in north London to an end, joining Barcelona. He left Arsenal with 118 appearances, 11 goals, and 24 assists to his name. A final stint at Chelsea brought his playing career full circle in England, cementing his status as one of France’s finest midfielders.