Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp has recalled how Javier Margas made his exit at West Ham United.

In his column for The Sun, Redknapp revealed: "Thankfully, the nightmare stories of yesteryear are no more. When I was West Ham manager we had Chilean centre-half Javier Margas. His wife was from a wealthy family and missed home badly. The club stuck them in a house in Essex and let them get on with it.

"She cracked eventually and bolted for home. Javier moved into a hotel in Waltham Abbey. One day the chief executive Peter Storrie and I went to his room and knocked. No answer.

"We went down to reception and were told he was definitely in because he had ordered coffee 10 minutes previously. Now worried, we all went back to his room and the receptionist opened the door, which was on the first floor.

"Poor Javier had opened the window, grabbed his passport, jumped out and legged it. He went straight to the airport, flew home to Chile and never played for West Ham again."