The following is an extract from an exclusive interview which will be featureded in the January edition of Hotspur magazine, which goes on sale on Friday 22nd December priced £3.45

Did you always know that you wanted to come to Spurs?
Yes sure. It’s a nice team, a big team and only Tottenham showed a solid interest in me. I had to be very patient waiting for the transfer to happen. Now I am very happy to be here and I can forget the waiting and just get on with enjoying my football.

Do you find it strange that you have gone from being something of an unknown into the PFA team of the year, then to the World Cup and a transfer to Spurs in such a short space of time?
I think I worked very hard last year to finish in the PFA team. It’s important to build on that as this season continues though. I always thought that there was a possibility of making the World Cup, but I was obviously very happy when the manager finally called me into the squad because I had waited a long time to receive that recognition. I think moving to the Premiership did make a huge difference because if I hadn’t I don’t think I would have made it to the World Cup in Germany.
It was a great experience for me. It’s a great competition and the very best players play in the World Cup. But it is only the start I hope as there are a lot of games for the French team at the moment and I am hoping to go to the European Championship in 2008. If I play football it’s normal to want to play in the international team, win a cup competition and all these things. I worked very hard to get in the international team and I’m ambitious to be successful in it.

Are you enjoying your time at Spurs?
Yes I’m having a good time because I know a lot of players here and so my integration to the club was fairly smooth because of that. We speak a lot of French because it is still very much my first language but when I need to speak English I try to do it the best I can. I’m very happy to be here.
I remember playing them last year, we lost the first game and Tottenham played very well and in the second game we came to play at White Hart Lane and got a 2-2 draw which was a good result for Wigan. The fans here are very good and every game we have nearly 36,000 people watching so it’s great to play here. The team has changed a lot and we needed time for the players coming in to get settled so it was going to need a bit of patience. It doesn’t happen overnight.

What’s the best game you’ve ever played?
I think my first game last season when we played Chelsea [Wigan were unlucky to lose 1-0 to a desperately late Hernan Crespo goal]. It was a tough game – a big game and my first in the Premier League and I worked very hard. It was hard to take but I think it gave us confidence as a team and for me personally. After that we won several games so it shows we had learned and that it had helped us.

Do you have a nickname? What about songs fans sing about you?
People just call me Pascal. I have got a nickname but I’m not going to tell you what it is. Only my friends know it. If I tell you everyone will know! There is a song for me which they started singing when I was at Wigan, which is a rendition of the Conga. It was great when I heard it sung by the Tottenham fans for the first time when we played Slavia Prague away.

To read the full in-depth interview get your copy of Hotspur from the usual outlets.