Tottenham confirm permanent agreement with Schalke for Nabil Bentaleb transfer

Nabil Bentaleb will be Tottenham Hotspur's first summer departure after they reached an agreement with Schalke over a permanent transfer.

The Algeria international is currently on a season-long loan with the Bundesliga side and will join them on a permanent basis following the conclusion of the deal in the summer. He has impressed during his stint becoming a regular under Markus Weinzierl making 20 appearances in the league thus far this season.

"We have reached agreement with Schalke for the permanent transfer of Nabil Bentaleb this summer. We wish Nabil all the best for the future," Tottenham tweeted via their official account on Friday (24 February).

IBTimes UK had reported earlier in the year that the deal was imminent after a clause in his contract was set to be triggered after his 20<sup>th appearance for the club, which came against Cologne on 19 February. The clause requires the German club to make the deal permanent with a four-year deal already having been agreed in the summer. Tottenham are expected to net around €23m (£19.5m) for the player, who came through their academy. The total cost also includes the €2m loan fee that Schalke have already paid Spurs last summer.

Bentaleb joined the north London club's academy full time in 2012 before being promoted to the first team in 2013 when he made 15 appearances in the Premier League. The midfielder however made a complete breakthrough during Mauricio Pochettino's first full season at the club during the 2014/15 campaign making a total of 35 appearances with the senior squad in all competitions.

However, the following season saw him suffer from multiple injury problems, which resulted in him dropping down the pecking order and failing to get into the starting XI on a regular basis. He made just 11 appearances in all competitions, and the arrival of Victor Wanyama and the presence of Mousa Dembele and Eric Dier saw him being shipped out on loan to Schalke.