West Brom captain Jake Livermore has admitted that it was astonishing to see his former Tottenham Hotspur team-mate perform at the top level as a defender without very little work in training.
King spent his entire career at Tottenham and went on to lead the side, but his career was a tale of what could have been due to numerous injuries.
During his 14 years in the Tottenham first team, he made just 317 appearances, but he continued to be a key feature of their squad until the end of his career at the north London club.
King was highly-rated as a centre-back and Livermore admits that he was absolutely imperious when it came to timing his tackling.
The former Spurs midfielder believes that his performances were more astonishing when it is taken into account that King trained very little from week to week due to his numerous knee problems.
Livermore told The Athletic: “Ledley King was the king of tackling.
“Considering he had dodgy knees and didn’t train from week to week, he was amazing.
“I broke my leg early in my career at Tottenham, so we were training together.
"He wouldn’t train properly from Monday to Friday because of his knees and he would play on a Saturday and be a rock at the back.
“His timing of tackling was always great, but if he didn’t need to tackle, he would just intercept.
“He was the governor. He was like a Rolls-Royce at the back.”
King was also capped 21 times by England and was considered by some to be one of the best natural defenders of his generation.
