The German Newspaper Bild and a number of English outlets have reported that Nabil Bentaleb is on the verge of joining Bundesliga side Schalke permanently. The 22-year-old is only one appearance away from triggering a clause worth £16 million and is expected to feature for the club when they take on Cologne next.
It would be his 20th match for Schalke, where he has been an integral part of the squad this campaign, scoring 4 goals and contributing 4 assists so far. Therefore, the Blue Royals will be delighted to tie him down on a permanent basis.
The left-footed player adds sheer hard work and creativity to the middle of the park and dangerous when running into shooting positions. Certainly passable replicas to feature in the current Spurs’ midfield but options are always overflowing at his parent club.
His future was hanging in the balance at White Hart Lane since arriving in the summer of 2013. Bentaleb bagged positive reviews within Spurs’ academy and quickly saw first team opportunities knocking. The Algerian international was a regular under former boss Tim Sherwood, where he went on to play 46 matches yet failed to open a goal account for himself. He has not started a league match since August 2015 and is nowhere near in Mauricio Pochettino’s plans, despite three years left to run on his current contract.
Thankfully for both sides, Bentaleb has been impressing week in week out in Germany.
However, his team are not on par with his form. Markus Weinzierl’s side are paying the price after an awful start to the season as they currently sit 11th in the league, daunting 9 points of the final Champions League spot, occupied by Borussia Dortmund at the moment.
The North London club will look to recycle the money they receive from his sale to probably sign another striker to support Harry Kane as Vincent Janssen is being underutilised due to his poor run of form.
However, it’s believed that Pochettino is looking to bolster his attacking ranks with the signing of Crystal Palace fleet-footed winger Wilfried Zaha in summer. It seems to be one of the most persistent transfer talks in recent times as the Express reveals that Spurs are prepared to go down to the wire to secure their long-time target.
The Eagles were unhappy with Tottenham’s £12 million bid for the Ivory Coast international as they slapped a £25 million valuation for their prized possession.
Do you think Bentaleb should have been given extra time to prove his worth at White Hart Lane?
