Now at Hamburger SV, the 28-year-old’s spell at the Premier League club was largely fruitless.
Ahead of Tottenham Hotspur’s date with destiny in the Champions League last-16 second leg at Borussia Dortmund, former Spurs player Lewis Holtby spoke of his time at White Hart Lane.
The 28-year-old midfielder was at Tottenham between 2013 and 2015, arriving from Schalke 04 for a reported £1.5million (BBC Sport), and going on to make 42 appearances, scoring three goals and registering eight assists (Transfermarkt).
However, Holtby’s time in North London also comprised of loan stints at Fulham and Hamburger SV, going on to join the latter permanently in the summer of 2015 for a reported £4.6million (The Guardian).
According to The Independent, who interviewed the former Germany Under-21 captain ahead of Tuesday night’s clash between his former club and his Bundesliga rivals, many Spurs fans feel that he wasn’t given the chance to develop at the club.
Indeed, Holtby spoke of how he was often getting frustrated and, at the time, felt he deserved more game time, but in hindsight he admits naivety and some “rash decisions” made in his younger years could have also been to blame for his lukewarm stint at WHL.
“I loved the time in England,” Holby told The Independent. “You can’t compare Fulham or even back then Schalke to Tottenham. It was definitely frustrating though because I had good spells where I felt I deserved more game time. But I did expect more of myself, I had more expectations to succeed.
“I thought I had the quality but maybe I was a bit naïve. I made too many rash decisions. I wasn’t as professional as I am now in a lot of things. There’s a lot of things that I’ve gained now over the years and I think if I was there now I would act differently, I think I have more in my locker.”
Ahead of Tottenham’s game against Dortmund, in which a place in the quarter-finals of the competition is up for grabs, Holtby was nonetheless feeling very proud of how far the club has come and how good he feels to have played a part in some of that rise.
“To see the club evolving to where they are now,” he said. “Somehow it makes you proud that you have been a part of something.”
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