It's official - the honeymoon is already over for Spurs new boy Boateng

No time for a honeymoon then? "My honeymoon was in a hotel and at Tottenham's training ground," said Boateng. "Next summer we will have our honeymoon. She had the worst honeymoon as she had to do all the paperwork in Germany." Like the new Mrs Boateng, her husband is in no hurry.

Holding up: Kevin-Prince Boateng in training

He was voted the best young player in Germany last season with Hertha Berlin, but he knows he has it all to prove in the Premier League with Spurs. He said: "I don't think I'll go straight into the team because I'm not 100 per cent fit. I didn't play any pre-season games in Germany and I need a bit of time, maybe two or three weeks.

"But don't put me under pressure because it is my first season. If I play 10 games or so I will be happy. I can wait and when I get my chance I think I will do it. I loved the Premier League style of football from when I was watching when I was young.

"It's hard and fast, there is everything in it. Now it's the best football in the world."

Manager Martin Jol insists his £5.4million buy in a busy summer in the transfer market is "one for the future". But, in time, Boateng is convinced he can become the supply line for Tottenham's impressive array of attacking talent.

The confident youngster added: "I think I'm creative, the coach said to me that I can help and I want to do that with all the positive things I can do. I knew for a long time that Tottenham were interested. Sevilla were interested too, but for me it was always a dream to play in England.

"I can play in every midfield position - if the manager says I need you to play left, I will. I'm just looking forward. This is a new chapter for me."

It could all have been so different for the "Ghetto Kid", as he was known in Germany, thanks to his humble beginnings in Berlin.

But a God-given talent and a steely determination ensured Boateng was able to break free of the life of crime that befell so many from his neighbourhood. "Ghetto - this is how it was, it is no lie," he said of his past.

"I was a young boy from the ghetto and now I'm a young professional at Tottenham Hotspur. The people did not have much money and only did criminal things. When I was 14 or 15 there were two ways to go - the criminal way or play football. My heart and my mind said to play football.

"When you are young you see people doing criminal things and think it is cool. You have to be strong in your mind."

Boateng is not without some marks associated with street culture, though, covered as he is in tattoos. "Here you see Africa and Ghana from my father," he said, pointing to his bicep. "I have the name of my wife and my home town, Berlin. I have two jokers, one is smiling and the other crying. It means laugh now, cry later."

But perhaps the most significant tattoo is that of his bride. "This here is a wife with a gun," he points out. "My wife when I told her that my honeymoon will be in Tottenham!"