ThreeMatchBan
Mention the name Willem Korsten to a Tottenham supporter and one of two reactions usually follows:
- a blank stare;
- a misty-eyed recollection of a 3–1 thrashing of Manchester United on the last day of the 2000–01 season.
Very few players are remembered almost entirely for one match. Korsten is one of them, and the match was good enough to justify it.
Leeds, Vitesse and the move to Spurs
Korsten made his Premier League debut for Leeds United while on loan from Vitesse Arnhem, and the left-footed Dutch winger quickly turned heads with several impressive displays in the seven matches he played for the Yorkshire club. It looked certain that Leeds would make the deal permanent.
Tottenham had other ideas. They bid for him too, and Korsten decided he would be happier in navy blue shorts than white ones, signing a permanent contract at White Hart Lane. Even for the time the fee, £1.5 million, was modest.
He was billed as a replacement for David Ginola, which was probably the largest pair of boots he could ever have been asked to fill. The flamboyant Frenchman had given Spurs fans some of the few genuinely bright moments in a largely gloomy period for the club. Unfortunately for Korsten and for Tottenham, the form he had shown at Elland Road was rarely repeated in north London.
Injury, a red card and a long wait
Injuries ate into his time at the club almost from the start. After an encouraging pre-season he was sidelined for long spells, and when he did return he only showed glimpses of the player Spurs had hoped for. His first goal for the club came in a 3–1 defeat against Liverpool.
Just as he seemed to have earned a semi-regular place in the starting eleven, he was out again, this time through suspension. He was sent off in a 3–0 defeat by Chelsea for two bookings in the space of ten minutes. Korsten came back just in time for the final game of the season: Manchester United's visit to White Hart Lane in May 2001.
A photograph from that afternoon can be found through the Embed from Getty Images link, which shows him in the white shirt he wore so briefly.
The afternoon against Manchester United
The game meant nothing in the table. Tottenham were stuck in lower mid-table under their newly appointed manager Glenn Hoddle, and Sir Alex Ferguson's United had long since been crowned champions. Yet it remains lodged in the memory of plenty of Spurs fans, almost entirely because of Korsten.
With other attacking options unavailable, he started in a more advanced role than usual, just behind the evergreen Les Ferdinand. It took 17 minutes for his finest moment to arrive. Raimond van der Gouw punched a Simon Davies corner to the edge of the United area, where Korsten was waiting. He took the ball on his chest and hit a sublime, dipping left-foot volley past the goalkeeper, the kind of goal Ginola himself would have been proud of.
Paul Scholes equalised soon afterwards. The day still belonged to Korsten. On 67 minutes he put Spurs back in front, this time with his right foot, finishing low into the bottom corner in less spectacular but still impressive style. Ferdinand added the third to round off the win, and the season, at 3–1. Wins over United were rare enough at White Hart Lane in that era to be savoured.
Supporters left the Lane that evening talking about what Korsten might do next, and whether Spurs had found the next Ginola, the next Gascoigne or even, whisper it, the next Hoddle. Older fans with a soft spot for another gifted wide man of a previous generation can find Chris Waddle's profile elsewhere on these pages.
The sad end at 26
They never found out. A recurring hip injury meant he never played for Tottenham again, and it forced him to retire from professional football in October 2001, at just 26.
He played only 23 league games for Tottenham Hotspur and will never be counted among the club's legends. Clips of the volley still do the rounds among supporters on Twitter. More from White Hart Lane sits on the Tottenham Hotspur hub, and the story of the cockerel is told in the Spurs badge history.
If a player is only as good as his last game, Willem Korsten must have been very good indeed.