The German media really need to make their minds up. A couple of weeks ago Kicker reported that Schalke had concerns over keeping Nabil Bentaleb, on loan from Tottenham, long term because he could decide to move for European football.
On Tuesday, Bild go completely against that and reveal a clause which could make the Tottenham transfer permanent as early as this weekend. When Mauricio Pochettino decided he didn’t need Bentaleb in his Tottenham squad, Schalke swooped in for a loan and agreed a clause which saw the move made permanent, automatically, after 20 league starts.
Bild say that was reduced to 18 because of Bentaleb’s involvement in the Africa Cup of Nations, and the Tottenham owned player will reach that mark should he start against FC Koln at the weekend.
The automatic deal, agreed by Tottenham, sees Bentaleb get a four year contract, and Bild say there’s no way out of it for Spurs.
The claims seem quite insistent, but given there’s been contradiction earlier there’s every chance things could change. Bentaleb has done well out on loan from Tottenham, and Pochettino may feel at least some regret it didn’t work out at Spurs.
Bentaleb has enjoyed an attacking role at Schalke, but at Tottenham Pochettino has Dele Alli, Mousa Dembele and Christian Eriksen who can all work there. The signing of Moussa Sissoko obviously didn’t help.
In a more defensive role there’s Eric Dier and Victor Wanyama, and Bentaleb was pretty much squeezed out.
