Tottenham Hotspur confirm sale of striker Roberto Soldado to Villarreal

Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed the sale of Roberto Soldado, with the underwhelming Spanish striker set to return to La Liga with Villarreal.

Soldado, 30, cost the Premier League outfit a club-record £26m ($40.6m) when he joined from Valencia in August 2013, yet never really came close to justifying such a hefty price tag during two hugely disappointing seasons in North London.

He made just seven top flight starts last term as Mauricio Pochettino relied heavily on the surprising goalscoring exploits of Harry Kane. Soldado scored 16 goals in total for Tottenham during 76 appearances before becoming surplus to requirements, along with Emmanuel Adebayor, as the club prepare to complete a deal for Lyon's Clinton Njie.

"We have reached agreement with La Liga side Villarreal for the transfer of @R9Soldado," Tottenham posted via their official Twitter account. "We wish Roberto all the best."

As well as sanctioning the sale of Soldado, Pochettino appears committed to allowing his younger players to gain valuable experience away from White Hart Lane, with no fewer than four departing on loan deals since 13 August.

Having seen how quickly Alex Pritchard developed during a temporary stint under Mark Warburton at Brentford in 2014/15, midfield duo Dominic Ball and Nathan Oduwa have both joined up with the highly rated manager during his latest venture with Scottish Championship title favourites Rangers.

"Pritch did unbelievably last season under Mark and Spurs clearly saw that and thought Rangers was a good place to be for Nathan and I with him as manager," Ball told the Rangers website after confirmation of the move.

"He said that under Mark is the best place to learn, he got a lot of good game time and did really well with it and he said to me 'you'll love it up there'. He's improved so much and you can see that over the past three years and then his season at Brentford was probably the best of his career so far. He's got into the England Under 21 squad and I hope to do the same sort of journey, I was with the England Under 20s last season so the next move is the Under 21s."

Oduwa and Ball both spent time in League Two last season, making a combined 22 appearances for Luton and Cambridge respectively. Neither player has yet made their first team debut for Tottenham.

Elsewhere, Tottenham have also allowed striker Shaquile Coulthirst to embark upon his fifth loan spell away from the club. The 20 year old has represented Leyton Orient, Torquay, Southend and York since 2014 and will now join Gary Caldwell's Wigan until 1 November.

"Coming here to Wigan is extremely valuable for my career, but I want to be valuable to this club as well," he said. "The gaffer has given me a chance to come in and play and it's important for me to repay him.

"The chance to play for Wigan is very exciting, it's an opportunity to learn from seasoned professionals while gaining regular first team minutes, that's certainly the aim anyway."

Connor Ogilvie is also set for a stint in the Football League, with the versatile defender having linked up with former Tottenham favourite Teddy Sheringham during the latter's first managerial job at basement club Stevenage on an initial one-month youth agreement.