2) Nabil Bentaleb: Tottenham Hotspur to Schalke
22-yaer-old Nabil Bentaleb made the step up from Tottenham Hotspur’s youth team to the senior squad in December 2013 and was a key member of the 2014/15 squad that finished fifth. He had clocked close to 2200 minutes in 26 appearances in the league.
However, a rash challenge on international duty with Algeria saw him sidelined much to Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino’s fury. Bentaleb was ruled out of action with an ankle injury and, later on in the season, a knee injury saw his season curtailed. He had played only 168 minutes of league football that season.
Spurs then decided to send him to Bundesliga side Schalke on a season-long deal to get some minutes under his belt. After a few games with the side from Gelsenkirchen, the Algerian midfielder was keen on staying at the club on a long-term basis.
“Even when I came to Schalke in the summer, it was my goal to play here as often as possible and convince the club to commit myself permanently.”
“It's good to have someone to trust you. The team of coaches, my teammates, the people responsible, the whole club have made it easy for me to feel at home with Schalke. I am happy to be part of the club.” – Bentaleb
The clubs got together and ironed out the details to make his dream come true in February and announced that Bentaleb would officially become a Schalke player at the end of the loan deal for a fee reported to be about £16m. He already has 5 goals and 4 assists this season.
