Tottenham’s Benoît Assou-Ekotto has never heard of new £17m teammate Paulinho

While many footballers are accused of playing only for the money, Benoît Assou-Ekotto openly admits that cold, hard cash is the only reason he gets up and kicks a ball. The Tottenham left-back has no interest in the beautiful game, and often has no idea who he is facing when he turns up for a match. He is so detached from his day job, in fact, that he wasn't aware that Luis Suarez bit someone last season, a news story that people living under huge rocks with their fingers in their ears couldn't possibly avoid.

To force home his obliviousness, Benny admitted in an interview on Monday that he had never heard of brand-new Spurs signing Paulinho. You know, the guy who cost a club-record £17m ($24m) and who hasn't been out of the newspapers since scoring twice in Brazil's triumphant 2013 Confederations Cup campaign.

The 29-year-old Cameroon international also admitted that he didn't know who Rafael van der Vaart was when he arrived at Tottenham's Enfield training ground, despite the fact that the Dutchman had worn the captain's armband in the World Cup Final a few weeks before signing up.

Clearly, Assou-Ekotto isn't feigning indifference just to try and sound cool. He genuinely doesn't give a monkey's armpit about being a professional footballer.