The gifted midfielder was once hailed as the best young player in Germany during his formative years with Hertha Berlin but freely admits he got carried away by the adulation.

After some home truths from wife Jennifer kept him in check, an unsuccessful spell at Spurs then saw his confidence battered as he struggled to get his chance in the first team.

Paul Hart raised a few eyebrows when he tempted Boateng to Pompey in August in a £4m deal.

But the new recruit has already done enough in his short time at the club to show just how desperate he is to repay the manager's faith.

Boateng told The News: 'I didn't get the chance with Tottenham to show what I could do. But I'm enjoying every day here.

'I enjoy coming into training and like the fact that you can go into the weekend and know you're playing. It's an unbelievable feeling for a footballer.

'When I signed for Tottenham, Martin Jol didn't sign me – he didn't even know me, it was Damien Comolli, so you come to a club and the gaffer doesn't even know you.

'Then Jol was sacked and Juande Ramos came. I played a couple of games and he told me I wasn't good enough.

'When Harry Redknapp came, the people told him "Boateng is crazy. He's a good footballer, but he's stupid".

'Harry has said the same thing in the newspapers as well. He says he didn't know me but knew me from what people said.

'When they first told me that Portsmouth wanted to sign me, the first thing I asked was "does the gaffer or the chairman want to sign me?"

'When I came here, I had a three-minute talk with the gaffer and it was perfect.

'He gave me so much and now every game, I try to give it back to him.'
Boateng's growing maturity has shone through in taking responsibility on the pitch.

But the 22-year-old knows Mrs Boateng and young son Jermaine have played their part in helping him settle on the south coast – and his favourite tattoo on his back depicts both of them.

Boateng explained: 'I feel I have matured now. I'm married and I'm a father now, so everything changes.

'When you are young, you do stupid things and I never thought that I would grow up and have a baby. I always thought I would be single, cool and everything else. But it's all changed now!

'It's only down to Jennifer. If she was not there, I would still be flying around somewhere.

'They told me I was the biggest talent in Germany and suddenly I thought I was the best player in the world.

'But she said "who do you think you are? Sit down here".'

He added: 'I've got maybe 21 or 22 tattoos, but I've got one of my wife and my son on my back which took nine hours to do and that's my favourite.'