Tottenham Hotspur were keen not to let Nabil Bentaleb join a rival club.
Tottenham Hotspur’s Nabil Bentaleb
Tottenham Hotspur may have signed Moussa Sissoko in the summer, but to make space for his arrival, they let Nabil Bentaleb leave on loan.
For a number of fans it was disappointing to see the talented Algerian depart, with the midfielder showing real promise so far in his career, and being still just 21.
Leicester’s Marc Albrighton and Tottenham’s Nabil Bentaleb
He signed for German side Schalke on a season long loan, but could easily have ended up at a Premier League club.
Schalke club chief Christian Heidel has told Le Buteur that Tottenham rejected big money offers for the midfielder but they did not want to let him join another English team.
He said: “We are lucky to have brought in Bentaleb. There were been plenty of offers for him, and quite large sums proposed by Premier League clubs.
“But we have been lucky because Daniel Levy, the chairman at Tottenham did not want to sell him in England to a rival club. In the end, we managed to obtain his arrival on loan.”
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy
Bentaleb signed a new long-term contract at Spurs only last summer, which shows how highly they rate him, but over the course of the year that followed, he lost favour with head coach Mauricio Pochettino.
There was no way into the first team for him this season, but that did not mean Spurs would have wanted him to come back and haunt them with another Premier League side, and Levy’s decision is a shrewd one, rather than simply grabbing the first available offer.
Everton’s Muhamed Besic (L) in action with Tottenham’s Nabil Bentaleb
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