Former Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers midfielder Adel Taarabt is still living his nightmare at Benfica.
The midfielder, who signed for the Portuguese club in the summer of 2015, still hasn’t made any appearances for them. His physical problems were an issue in the beginning, and then his behaviour made club president Luis Filipe Vieira push him out of the squad.
Newspaper O Jogo has an article today saying that Taarabt has already cost Benfica €6.4m, even though he signed for free after being released by Queens Park Rangers.
From this amount, Benfica paid €2.9m as a signing on fee and commission, plus €3.5m in salary. The player currently makes €193k per month at the club.
O Jogo interviewed the former Tottenham fullback Gilberto to comment on the Egyptian’s days at the London club.
“Taarabt is extremely skilful. At the same time he was technically brilliant, he was tactically undisciplined. He was a player for Barcelona, Real Madrid, but was too disobedient,” said Gilberto, who played with Taarabt at Tottenham between 2008 and 2009.
“His will was to do a nutmeg, a rainbow kick, and that’s it. He had the skills of a Ronaldinho, a Neymar, he wasn’t any worse, but had no compromise.”
Taarabt’s contract with Benfica only expires in 2020. He made seven appearances for the B squad last season, but now he’s not allowed to wear their shirt either.
Things could have been so different had Taarabt knuckled down at Tottenham, he may well have now been a huge part of Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs side.
