Spurs splashed out a rumoured £7.5 million on securing the budding talent that made Younes Kaboul the best young defender in France in July 2007, in the face of competition from Juventus, Chelsea and Olympique Lyonnais.

The player was the French Under-21 captain at the time and Kaboul was impressed by Tottenham's pursuance of him and their willingness to give young players an opportunity in the first team, as well as satisfying his ambition to play ion the Premier League.

Younes was a regular in the Auxerre side at the age of 19 and helped them to win the French Cup in 2005, with the following season bringing experience in the UEFA Cup.  Became an integral part of the club's team and his defensive performances brought recognition at Under-19 and Under-21 level for France.

He looked as if he might leave in late 2006 to join his former team-mate Jeremy Clement at Glasgow Rangers, with AS Roma and Internazionale also rumoured to be interested in the defender, with Auxerre turning down approaches from the latter side and Portsmouth, before he signed for Tottenham.

The player was the French Under-21 captain at the time and likened to Marcel Desailly, the strapping defender was keen to join Tottenham and he signed in July 2007 for an undisclosed fee believed to be between £7.5 million and £8.2 million to add to the Spurs squad's strength in depth in the centre of the back four. 

His early Spurs career saw him a useful weapon at set-pieces, but his bread and butter duties of defending provided less enthusiastic reviews, as he tended to want to play too much football at the back and want too much time on the ball.  Having a clearance charged down for West Ham to score at Upton Park indicated that his youth might be counting against him, as he might not have adjusted to the Premiership from the slower pace of the French game.  When Juande Ramos came in and Jonathan Woodgate joined in January, it perhaps signalled the end for the 22 year old.  He played only a handful of games under Ramos, although did come on in the League Cup Final in extra time to gain a winner's medal, but at the end of the season he was linked with Aston Villa and Sunderland before joining Portsmouth in August 2008 for a deal rumoured to be £6 million.

After two seasons with Pompey, he re-signed for Spurs, with former boss at Fratton Park Harry Redknapp bringing him back to White Hart Lane and he looked a much better player.  His concentration had improved and his positional sense had also developed, with him being more judicious when he made runs past the midfielders.  His sale was prompted by the South Coast club's financial problems, with Tottenham snapping the Frenchman up for a fee that was undisclosed, but believed to be in the region of £9.5 million, although the actual amount to be paid might have been nearer £6 million, with Portsmouth still owing Spurs money on the original deal and Tottenham also invoked the sell-on clause they had inserted in the transfer to Portsmouth.

Younes has hit by the odd niggling injury and did not get a real run of games in his first few months back, but he played an important part in the away game against Manchester City, when his cross was pushed out by Marton Fulop and was headed in by Peter Crouch to earn Spurs a Champions League place.

In 2010-11, Kaboul looked more assured, but was hit twice by injuries, just when it looked as though he was due a period of time in the team.  Did well enough to be considered for the French squad in a friendly at Wembley in November 2010, but did not get selected in the group of players able to play, but did get his debut in the Ukraine for a friendly on 6th June 2011, when he played the whole game, scoring with a header in the 89th minute in a 4-1 win in Donetsk.

Made club captain in 2014-15, he had a stirring performance away against Arsenal, but following that he seemed to lack commitment and was the result of some goals being conceded, prompting team-mates to remonstrate with him.  By the end of the year he had been side-lined amid rumours of a dressing room argument tha tsplit the squad into a French group and the rest and was not to play for Tottenham again, before finally being sold to Sunderland in the summer of 2015.