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Tottenham believed they were about to sign Emmanuel Petit in 1997, but Arsenal hatched a plan to pull off the mother of all transfer hijacks.
This was a period of great success for the Gunners - Dennis Bergkamp and David Platt were added to the squad that summer, while Arsene Wenger was appointed manager in 1996 and transformed them forever.
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So when it was put to France international Petit: Do you want to fight relegation or challenge for Premier League titles, it was a no-brainer.
Petit was in London, talking to Spurs chairman Alan Sugar about moving to the capital from Monaco. Arsenal heard about the meeting and got word to him not to sign anything until he had at least heard Wenger's pitch about this new era that was about to unfold at Highbury.
That seemed fair enough considering Wenger was the man who brought him through at the French club, so Petit asked Tottenham bosses for time to think about the offer at his hotel.
Spurs even paid for the taxi to drive him there, but the cab was instead diverted to Wenger's house where he was joined by vice-chairman David Dein and a £3.5m deal was sealed.
Speaking to Andy Goldstein on talkSPORT Drive, Petit recalled: “I had meetings on the same day with Tottenham and Arsenal. I met Tottenham in the morning, but when I came to England I didn’t know about the rivalry between the two clubs.
"When I left the Spurs stadium, they booked me a cab and the cab driver asked me for directions, so I gave him the Arsenal address and I didn’t realise that the cab was pre-paid by Spurs, so they knew where I was going!
"I told Spurs that I needed time to think about it but knew that I had to see Arsenal, as well as other clubs in Italy and Spain.
“I told everyone that I’d make my mind up and when I knew the answer I would give it, but after a couple of days I signed for Arsenal and it went into newspapers and all of a sudden the story came.
“I realised the pressure of the rivalry then.”
Speaking about it in 2018, Petit said: "It’s part of the legend now. David Dein still loves that story - and [more than] 20 years later he’s still telling it!”
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His transfer began Wenger's revolution, with Gilles Grimandi and Nicolas Anelka also arriving at Highbury.
And Petit was a very busy man.
By the end of the pony-tailed one's first season, he was a Premier League and FA Cup winner, his partnership with Patrick Vieira in midfield lauded, he won the World Cup and he even found time to help Sun Hill's finest with an appearance on a Christmas episode of former ITV drama, The Bill.
"I didn't realise it was so popular at the time," he laughed at his appearance on the popular TV show that ended in 2010 after 27 years where he played himself delivering a signed ball to an ill child in hospital.
But those long blond locks fans loved him for may never have been seen by British fans, as his teammates threatened to cut them off owing to an apparent rudeness.
“When the French lads came over, the atmosphere was a little different," former teammate Ray Parlour once told talkSPORT.
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“Us British guys had a little bit more fun.
“Dennis Bergkamp was another one, they were a little more bit serious and we tried to get a bit of fun out of them.
“They did change quickly and they did really enjoy the banter, but every now again, for example, Manu Petit sometimes would walk straight past you.
“You’d say, ‘morning, Manu’, and he’d walk straight past you.
"He did it to all the players. He did it to [captain] Tony Adams, he did it to [goalkeeper] David Seaman and that’s not acceptable.
“Whatever problems you have, you say good morning to somebody, don’t you? It’s very rude if you just walk past someone. It’s just having that respect for other people.
“So, one morning we nailed him against the wall and told him: ‘Make sure you say good morning to everybody because, if you don’t, we’ll cut your ponytail off!’
“We even had scissors.
“After that, he was good as gold!"
Petit, though, would have been more worried by Martin Keown telling him to behave.
He once joked football saved Keown from a stretch in jail. "Martin is such a nice guy but all of a sudden, in the space of one second, he can change," he said recalling his teammate's combative nature.
Both were fierce competitors and both have enjoyed Arsenal's ascent in recent years and Tottenham's struggles.
Emmanuel Petit reveals Eric Cantona was 'feared by everyone' and protected him when he first joined the French national team
Joining talkSPORT after a very one-sided north London derby in which Spurs were easily beaten, he called manager Ange Postecoglu 'broken' and took pity on the White Hart Lane faithful, which will not have gone down well.
"When I look at this team, I have no idea what they want to do on the pitch, what kind of system, what kind of movements, even the commitment and the behaviour of the players.
“I know that they give everything on the pitch, but that's not enough. When you look at the quality individually and collectively in this team, something has been broken."
Once a Gooner, always a Gooner.
