Should Spurs sign Holtby in January?
When the news broke on Friday that Tottenham Hotspur had secured FC Schalke 04’s Lewis Holtby on a pre-contract, fans of the the north London outfit were understandably excited. The prodigious German has emerged as one of the finest attacking talents over the course of the last 18 months, churning out numerous fine performances for the Bundesliga outfit, both domestically and across the continent.
Interest was believed to be high in the youngster, but it was Spurs who won the race to snare the Germany international, with the player himself admitting Andre Villas-Boas was key to convincing him his future lay at White Hart Lane, dubbing the 35-year-old an “insanely good manager”.
While fans had been anticipating that he wouldn’t arrive until the summer once his contract expires, reports over the weekend from German newspaper Bild suggested that the club could snare Holtby for as little as £1.6m before the end of the month.
Schalke chairman Gerhard Rehberg is thought to be keen to land some form of compensation for the youngster rather than allow him to leave for free next summer. It appears to have been another financial masterstroke from Spurs chairman Daniel Levy to announce the pre-contract days after the transfer window has opened, thus forcing Schalke’s hand in the hope of securing some form of financial payment for his services.
The main question remains, however, is whether Spurs need Holtby now or allow him to see out his contract with Schalke. The answer is a stern and solid yes. Regardless of the position Villas-Boas’ side currently find themselves in, the fact still remains is that they need a number 10.
Gylfi Sigurdsson and Clint Dempsey have hardly set the world alight with their performances during the first half of the season, despite both being charged with replacing now Hamburg midfielder Rafael van der Vaart.
A world class attacking threat to unlock defences is a necessity, especially with the business end of the season quickly approaching. However, you can be sure that Levy will wait until the dying embers of the transfer window before bringing Holtby in, should he opt to do so, thus saving on wages until then.
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