Former Tottenham star Jamie O’Hara has revealed that Robbie Keane once hit Edgar Davids during a bust-up in a training session.
The incident happened back in 2005 after Davids made the switch to north London from Inter and seemingly wanted to establish himself as the leader in the squad.
However, personalities evidently clashed as now revealed by O’Hara, who has claimed that Davids and Keane came to blows in a spat during one particular training session, although it was the Irishman who finished it before it even had the chance to get started.
“We were at training and Edgar Davids came in from Inter Milan and he thought he was the bee’s knees,” he told talkSPORT. “He thought he was the guy and the main man and everything, but everyone realised Robbie Keane was the main guy at Tottenham at that time.
“I remember him giving it to Keano in training and they were having a barney, and I think he tried to step to Robbie Keane and say something – and Keano just sparked him, bosh!
“He just went, bang – one punch. Gone.
“Then Davids has just picked himself up and walked off – and that was it. He came in the next day like, ‘morning, Robbie…’
“He knew – no-one messed with Keano. He had that Irish thing about him that if he switched he would put you straight out.”
It sounds as though Keane quickly ended any discussion over who was the leader of that dressing room, although it’s unclear how he managed to get away with hitting one of his own teammates.
O’Hara doesn’t go into further detail about the repercussions of that incident for the ex-Tottenham striker, and so some will perhaps raise an eyebrow over just how accurate it is as punching a teammate surely isn’t something that just flies under the radar with a slap on the wrist.