Jurgen Klinsmann was persuaded by Alan Sugar to join Tottenham and in what was an adventure for him, became a legend in a short time and a firm favourite with the Spurs support, while discovering that playing for Tottenham was nothing like playing for any other club. A world class striker who joined Spurs for two spells in which he helped the team recover from a big points deduction (later reinstated) and then returned for a half a season to help keep the club in the Premier League.
In interviews many years after his two spells at White Hart Lane were over, he still speaks with a special affection for the club and about how he loved his time playing for a club that shared his way of playing the game.
As a 17-year old, Klinsmann hired a sprint coach to aid his speed and this gave him an edge over Bundesliga defenders, such was his attention to detail to gain any advantage over an opponent. His career started as a 14 year old at Second Division Stuttgart Kickers and he made his debut in 1982. His goals at Kickers brought him to the attention of VfB Stuttgart, who played in the Bundesliga and he stepped up maintaining a good scoring rate, propelling Stuttgart to the semi-final of the UEFA Cup Final in 1988-89, where they lost to Diego Maradona's Napoli.
It was in the summer of 1989 that he moved to Italy to join Internazionale on a three year deal. It was here that he had his greatest success at club level and twinned this with his best period in a national shirt for Germany too. His consistent goal-scoring in a defensive league made him a stand-out player and within a year (in 1990), he had led Germany to a World Cup triumph over Argentina in his adopted home of Italy.
The 1990-91 season saw him spearhead the Internazionale UEFA Cup win but changes in coaches at the club lead to him losing form for club and country, with Inter riven by cliques within the team as they failed to maintain their success.
Despite having signed a contract extension with the Serie A club, he left in 1992 to join AS Monaco and his goals helped take the team into the Champions League after Olympique Marseille were thrown out for being involved in a bribery scandal. the ..
His initial arrival at the club saw him joke about the location of the nearest diving club, lampooning the press over his reputation as a "diver" and he went further by producing a forward dive to the turf following a debut goal at Sheffield Wednesday. It became a regular feature of that first season with Spurs, as he scored goal after goal and the club reached the FA Cup semi-final after originally being thrown out of the competition.
Returning to White Hart Lane in December 1997, Jurgen set about helping Spurs with his goals to gain the necessary victories to stay up. His first goal against West Ham United at White Hart Lane gave Tottenham their sixth win of the season and his goals were instrumental in a 3-3 home draw with Liverpool and away wins over Crystal Palace and Wimbledon - the pivotal 6-2 victory where he netted four times and was involved in both the other Spurs goals.
With his unerring ability to finish and his professional and determined approach to the game, Jurgen Klinsmann was almost the ultimate professional and his importance to the four year spell that spanned his two periods at the club cannot be under-estimated.
On retirement from playing in 1998, Jurgen moved to Los Angeles and enjoyed the life in California with his family, occasionally playing for an amateur club under an assumed name - Jay Goppingen (his initial and his birthplace).
However, the lure of the professional game could not be ignored and he took on the role of national team manager for his fatherland in 2004 and took Germany to the semi-final in the 2006 World Cup finals (and subsequently third place), despite much criticism for his attacking football and from the German press, as he lived in California, while passing details of training to his coaches in Germany and viewing games on DVD rather than being at the game in person. It didn't help that he stopped the direct access to team matters that the German newspaper Bild had been privy to under precious managers. The German football federation also disapproved of some of his ways, declining to hire the national hockey coach, despite Klinsmann's desire to add coaches from other disciplines to the national coaching set-up.
When his contract expired and he handed the reins of the national side to his assistant Joachim Löw, it was thought that he would return to his life as an unknown in California. However, many rumours circulated about him taking over at Tottenham when Martin Jol was under press scrutiny and Chelsea when both Jose Mourinho and Avram Grant were in the throes of leaving the West London club. However, in January 2008, it was announced that he would take on the role as manager at former club Bayern Munich from July 2008.
Stayed as Bayern manager for only one season and then took time out of the game, having moved back to California, before becoming US National coach in 2011. Linked with a number of top jobs in Europe, he stuck with the America job, despite being tempted by Liverpool and Spurs when they were looking for new managers. However, during the campaign to qualify for the 2018 World Cup finals, he was sacked in November 2016 after losing the first two qualifiers.
Ever the cosmopolitan, Jurgen has learned to speak Italian, French, English and Spanish.