I rejected Tottenham three or four times – they sent a private jet but I didn't show up

This former Aston Villa star also plied his trade for Tottenham but admits he turned down the north London club a few times before signing

Alan Hutton says he turned down Tottenham "three or four times" before eventually signing for them. Two of the former Scotland defender's old clubs, Spurs and Aston Villa, are all set to go head-to-head in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.

This weekend brings mixed emotions for 41-year-old Hutton, who hung up his boots in 2020. The right-back spent four years of his playing career at Tottenham between 2008 and 2011 before joining Villa, where he played for a further eight years.

Hutton started his career in Scotland with his boyhood club Rangers and just as he was enjoying a breakout season, Spurs came calling in January 2008 with an initial £5million offer. But a move to the Premier League was not instantly approved by the defender.

Instead, Hutton says he rebuffed the Lilywhites on a handful of occasions as they tried to entice him to White Hart Lane. He eventually said yes and a £9m deal was agreed, but not before the defender snubbed a private jet Spurs had chartered just for him.

"I didn't want to go," he told The Scottish Sun in 2022. "I don't think people know the story, but I actually knocked it back three or four times. "I even remember them sending up a plane and me not turning up for it. Eventually, I had a meeting with [Rangers owner] David Murray in Edinburgh and he basically said, 'Look, you need to go.'

"I'd only just got there [the Rangers first team] and then suddenly someone was saying to me, 'Right, it's time to leave.' That's the thing I found most difficult. In fairness to Tottenham, they could easily have walked away.

"At one stage, my agent told me they were going to move on to someone else and I told him I was absolutely fine with that. But they came back again and I reluctantly said I'd think about it. I told them I'd go down and speak to them but when the day came I still wasn't sure, so I just didn't go to the airport when they had sent a plane up."

On his fleeting steps at Spurs, Hutton said: "The first six months at Tottenham were great, but I watched Rangers get to the final of the UEFA Cup and it would have been great to have been part of that.

"Leaving after that season would have made me feel better, put it that way. But January transfer windows are manic and I didn't really have a choice. Tottenham were desperate to sign me, but there was a voice in my head saying, 'Do you really want to go there?'"

In his time with Spurs, Hutton made 66 appearances across all competitions, scoring two goals. He started at right-back as Spurs beat Chelsea 2-1 to lift the League Cup in 2008, just weeks after he'd signed.

Hutton joined Sunderland on loan in February 2010 and was sold a year and a half later to Villa, who paid around £4.5m for his services. He cemented himself as a cult hero at Villa Park, earning the nickname 'The Scottish Cafu' from supporters.

The defender featured for Villa 202 times and after loan spells with Nottingham Forest, Mallorca and Bolton Wanderers between 2012 and 2014, played a key role in helping the Villans seal promotion back to the Premier League in 2019. He retired aged 35. Now, he'll have to wear a proverbial half-and-half scarf as Tottenham host Villa on Saturday afternoon.