The former Leeds star never wanted to leave Elland Road in the first place

Aaron Lennon admitted his eye-watering contract at Leeds United was the reason he was sold to Tottenham Hotspur.

The former winger - whose former sides meet at Elland Road in the early Saturday kick-off - was born and bred in Leeds and came through the club's academy before making his professional debut in 2003.

Lennon, now 39, became the youngest player to ever appear in the Premier League at the age of 16 years and 129 days, when coming on against Spurs. Two years prior, the ex-England international signed an outrageous contract with Leeds that later led to his departure amid the Whites' relegation and crippling financial issues.

He spent the 2004/05 season in the Championship after the likes of Alan Smith, James Milner and Mark Viduka had to be sold to raise money upon their drop to the second division. Lennon's time with his boyhood club ended in the summer of 2005, when he joined the north London side for £1million.

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Lennon opened up about the difficulty of leaving Leeds when appearing on the Off The Shelf Podcast. He said: "Honestly, [it was] a tough, tough decision. I didn’t want to leave Leeds. I’ve been open about this. It's my hometown, I loved it, even though we were relegated to the Championship and in financial difficulties, I still wanted to play for Leeds.

"They literally told me the money was that bad and my agent told me to meet the guys in London, they told me Daws (Michael Dawson) was coming, Wayne Routledge, Tom Huddlestone and I liked the sound of that, but I struggled for three or four months, I couldn’t settle, I was homesick."

On top of his reluctance to seek pastures new, former Leeds boss Kevin Blackwell once revealed that Lennon was forced to take a pay cut when signing his Spurs contract. The interim Crawley Town boss said in 2006: "He actually took a wage cut to go to Tottenham from Leeds.

"The contract that he had was so prohibitive to Leeds - it came from the Premiership days - that there was no way we could afford to keep him." The contract saw Lennon earn £10,000 every appearance, and a mammoth £100,000 after every five senior games.

He revealed the intricate details behind the deal when appearing on Rio Ferdinand’s Five podcast. Lennon told his former international team-mate: "Mine was done quite ruthlessly. Ken Bates came in and to be fair to him, I didn’t understand at the time, but my contract was good.

"It was £5,000-a-week, as soon as turned pro, and £10,000 an appearance. The incentives were crazy. It was like every time I played five games I would get £100k. At that time I signed, I was 14. So they are thinking he isn’t going to play, there was no money in it unless you played. But then I started breaking in.

"My contract was silly looking back. It was crazy numbers and they were thinking he won’t play. But then I started playing. I was on the bench and they couldn’t put me on because I was going to hit one of those appearances."

He added: "Yeah, I remember Gary Kelly going mad and saying our best player is on the bench now. Our most in-form winger is on the bench. I was just sat there and Leeds fans were singing my name. But eventually he put me on because it got that bad with the fans singing my name they had to put me on.

"I think this is the first time it might have come out. I remember at the end of the season Ken Bates told me you are done at this club. Because of the money. It wasn’t even in a nice way. And I was like this is my hometown. I was upset and I remember going away and got the call saying they have accepted a bid, you are going to Tottenham."

Daniel Farke's side enter the weekend clash without a win in their last five league games and come up against an in-form Spurs side on a three-match winning streak for the first time since February 2025.