Mabbutt: backed King to continue

Ledley King will be looked after by the club and he'll be taken care of in the way that he needs to get him ready to play as many games a season as possible. Hopefully that will be four seasons.

Gary Mabbutt
Quotes of the week

Related links

Teams

• Tottenham Hotspur

Players

• Ledley King

Gary Mabbutt laughed off suggestions that Ledley King is set to retire from football following Tottenham's Carling Cup success.

Club captain King has been plagued by persistent injury problems in recent seasons, but returned to play a key role at the heart of the defence as Tottenham beat Chelsea 2-1 at Wembley on Sunday afternoon.

The game was only King's seventh of the season and his first since the Carling Cup semi-final success over Arsenal last month and it has been suggested that he may be forced to retire due to a lack of fitness.

But former Tottenham centre-half Mabbutt dismissed such talk as "speculation" and told Sky Sports News he expected to see King in a Spurs shirt for many years to come.

When asked if he had heard if King might have to retire, he replied: "Absolutely not.

"Problems have arisen through injuries, but there has always been a belief that he'll come back and be in the middle of our defence and he will be there for a period to come.

"All of those rumours are speculation and I think they are a little bit over the top.

"I'm sure that Ledley is probably quite sick of all these questions because I get asked about him virtually every time I see a Spurs fan because he is so important to Tottenham Hotspur.

"The fact of the matter is that he has had injury problems. Some players have one problem followed by another problem, which has been the case with Ledley.

"We saw with his performance yesterday how much he is needed in the middle of the back four here at Tottenham.

"He'll be looked after by the club and he'll be taken care of in the way that he needs to get him ready to play as many games a season as possible. Hopefully that will be four seasons."

Relationship

Mabbutt said King's availability was a big boost for Tottenham's defence, which has steadily improved since the arrival of Juande Ramos, and he hopes that will be the foundation for a Tottenham assault on the top four in forthcoming seasons.

He continued: "You saw yesterday the relationship between King and Jonathan Woodgate is developing very quickly and if we can keep those two together and keep them both fit then good things will follow.

"We've got Gareth Bale, Alan Hutton and Gilberto and we're looking very strong defensively.

"That's where the foundations have been laid by Ramos and because the defence is a lot stronger we have enabled Jermaine Jenas and Steed Malbranque to have a lot more license in midfield and they have been able to cause a lot of problems for defences this season.

"I think Tottenham were the best of the rest in the last two Premier League seasons when we came fifth. We started poorly this season, but now we've beaten Arsenal and Chelsea quite convincingly in the Carling Cup and I think that shows how determined the club is to get back into the top four."

Rumours

Former Spurs skipper Mabbutt also denied rumours that Darren Bent was likely to leave the club in the summer after apparently becoming surplus to requirements at White Hart Lane.

Mabbutt feels the team's Carling Cup success could provide a platform for future success and he says players like Bent will want to stay and be a part of that.

He added: "Darren Bent has showed that he is a top-quality goalscorer. We all heard the rumours and speculation regarding Berbatov as well.

"Hopefully the fact that the club has shown the determination to move forward by winning the Carling Cup - we're still in the UEFA Cup as well - means those sorts of players will want to stay.

"When you start to do well as a club, other clubs come in and try to poach your best players, but hopefully we've shown enough that we'll be able to keep those players. Darren Bent is very much part of that."