Tottenham wanted Nico Schlotterbeck over the summer but the defender is hardly impressing in a Germany shirt.
It was abundantly clear that Antonio Conte wanted a new left-sided centre back over the summer.
Ben Davies had fared well as a makeshift left-sided centre back in Conte’s three-man defence, but he needed competition.
Clement Lenglet was eventually snapped up on loan from Barcelona and he has already shown promising signs.
Tottenham did though look at other options, including Alessandro Bastoni, Josko Gvardiol and Nico Schlotterbeck…
Tottenham wanted Nico Schlotterbeck
Schlotterbeck had been shining with Freiburg and there was a real fight for his signature emerging.
The Athletic reported in April that Tottenham Hotspur had joined that race for Schlotterbeck in the hope of adding him as their left-sided centre back.
Schlotterbeck picked a move to Borussia Dortmund instead though, preferring to stay in Germany.
The 22-year-old is now a regular for Germany but his time in the starting lineup hasn’t exactly gone swimmingly.
Schlotterbeck started for Germany against England on Monday night but gave away the penalty for Harry Kane’s goal.
Schlotterbeck was penalised for a lunge on Dortmund teammate Jude Bellingham and Spurs star Kane made no mistake from the spot.
Remarkably, as noted by Get German Football News, that’s now three penalties given away by Schlotterbeck in just five games for Germany.
That’s pretty outrageous and a sign that Schlotterbeck isn’t quite the finished product just yet.
There is still plenty of developing for Schlotterbeck to go through over the coming years and he will surely become a star for Germany if given time.
Tottenham missed their chance at signing Schlotterbeck but his growing pains in the Germany side will leave Fabio Paratici pretty happy with his cheap loan deal for Lenglet instead.
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