Manager Harry Redknapp recently said that even if King's chronic knee trouble reduced him to only 50 per cent of matches a season, the England defender would be worth keeping on, writes Stewart Coggin.

A player with deceptive pace and strength, King is a commanding presence who is comfortable bringing the ball out of defence. His disciplinary record is also impressive, making him a template for the perfect defender, when fit. But that's the problem. King can no longer train with his team-mates, generally mixing with them only in the dressing room and at lunch. His knee gets incredibly inflamed after matches, meaning that rest, swimming and whatever tedious gym work that doesn't aggravate the muscles is generally the order of each day.

It is a lonely existence devoid of regular interaction with team-mates. But Redknapp holds the centre-back in such high esteem that he would like the 28-year-old to follow in the footsteps of Les Ferdinand and Tim Sherwood by becoming the latest former player to join the club's coaching staff once he has hung up his boots.

While flattered by Redknapp's plans for the future, King has nothing on his mind other than finishing the season strongly with Tottenham, regrouping ahead of next season and looking to add to the single trophy (the 2008 Carling Cup) he has to his name.

"I want to finish this season on a high and go into next season optimistic about doing good things," he told premierleague.com while attending an official Barclays signing session.

King admits that the main player he looked up to when coming through the ranks in the late 90s was former captain Sol Campbell. The inspirational Campbell was a fans' idol before defecting to arch-rivals Arsenal in 2002 after several seasons of outstanding performances at the heart of the Spurs defence.  The imposing centre-back has won two Premier League titles, two FA Cups and a League Cup in a successful career at Tottenham, Arsenal and Portsmouth. While King has been praised for some heavyweight individual performances in his career - not least the first match of Euro 2004 against France when he nullified the threat of Thierry Henry - it is trophies, not accolades that he craves.

"More than any one game, it (the important thing) is to win things," he insists. "When we won the Carling Cup against Chelsea it was a great day for me and the club. There have been individual games I've enjoyed but to win that day was the most memorable."

Campbell had already won each of the domestic trophies by the time he was 28 - King's age now - and the Bow-born player acknowledges that the man he would eventually succeed as captain is a player he relates to more than most.

"Obviously Sol Campbell was in my position, an East End kid like me so it made me think I could achieve that as well," says King. "I think the thing I learned from Campbell was that he came through a similar path as I did. So that gave me the belief that I could do the same."

Campbell was by no means the only player King looked up to before making his first-team debut in the 1998/99 season: "There were some great talents. I remember watching Jurgen Klinsmann when I was a youth team player, watching him train. David Ginola was there when I came through, all these guys were top, top players. When I finally broke through, playing and training with players like Ginola, Ferdinand and Sherwood, players I've watched over the years, they inspired me."

But King is not just a sucker for a big name. He also admits that former Spurs centre-backs Chris Perry and John Scales helped him with his game. They may not have been crowd pleasers in the mould of Klinsmann and Ginola, but King credits them with a contribution to his development: "You pick up things just from watching. I took things from different players. It's what you are willing to take in."

Looking forward, King believes that Redknapp has made a positive impact at the club, despite their ongoing toils against relegation. To King, the difference between Redknapp and his predecessor, Spaniard Juande Ramos, is marked: "Harry knows the Premier League inside out, he knows everything about it and is easy to communicate with. So they're the big differences. Ramos is obviously Spanish, and it helps if you are in your own language and can get things across easier.

"You can never tell as players why things aren't clicking. It (Spurs' poor form under Ramos) was hard to sum up. For whatever reason we weren't performing. For some reason the manager wasn't getting the best out of us. The number of points we had at that stage of the season wasn't acceptable."

In January, a frustrated King suggested that Spurs were finding themselves in and around the relegation zone because of a lack of hard work. King stands by that candid assessment, and believes that there is now more application, particularly on the team's travels.

"I think we realised that if we didn't put in the work, we would lose games," he reflects. "None more so than away from home, I think we are starting to show some improved form away. The effort is there. When you put in the effort, you get the breaks, a bit of the luck and you start picking up. Too many times earlier in the season when games were tight, we were a soft touch. So we've seen an improvement in that respect definitely."

A gap is now developing between Spurs and the relegation zone, but work ethic is not the sole reason for the transformation. Since being appointed in October, Redknapp has re-signed former players Robbie Keane, Jermain Defoe and Pascal Chimbonda, as well as adding the experienced goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini and midfield all-rounder Wilson Palacios.

The team's improvement has coincided with some cultured and combative displays from the £14m Honduran. King has been impressed by what he has seen: "I've admired him (Palacios) throughout the season. I watched him for Wigan a number of times and could see he was a very good player. His work rate was there, he would close people down and he is good technically as well. He is a player we'd spoken about and liked the look of."

Any talk of King, and inevitably the subject of injuries rears its ugly head. Redknapp, a staunch admirer, knows that he possesses one of the best centre-backs in the country, even if his knee injury restricts him to one match a week.

"I think when Ledley plays he has such an influence on the team and gives an air of confidence to the side," said Redknapp. "He'd have many more England caps had he not been injured."

King himself is confident that his international career is not over, and believes that if he can return to the side on a relatively consistent basis, a call-up to Fabio Capello's squad may be forthcoming in the 2009/10 campaign: "Hopefully next season I'll be involved a lot more with Tottenham and if my form is good, hopefully I can be involved with England."

 

Ledley King was appearing at an official coaching and signing session for Barclays. Barclays is title sponsor of the Barclays Premier League which is watched by a global audience of 4.77 billion throughout the season in more than 200 countries.