Nabil Bentaleb is one of four players who are being tipped to leave Tottenham Hotspur as part of Mauricio Pochettino’s summer transfer plans.
The Algerian midfielder has not been included in the Spurs squad to tour Australia for their pre-season International Champions Cup campaign.
And Lyall Thomas – Sky Sports’ expert for all things Spurs – has indicated that is because it is looking likely that Bentaleb has no future at White Hart Lane.
In reply to an inquisitive fan, Thomas tweeted that he expects the 21-year-old, along with three other first-team fringe players, to be allowed to leave.
Pritchard for sale at £8m. NJie discussing possible Marseille move. Bentaleb + Fazio’s futures also appear elsewhere https://t.co/uIxVbFJJJJ
— Lyall Thomas (@SkySportsLyall) July 22, 2016
Bentaleb showed great promise in his early Tottenham appearances, making 25 Premier League starts in 2014-15 before an injury-hit campaign last season in which he featured only 11 times, and not once in the league after August.
The youngster has huge potential, but Pochettino seemingly trusts the likes of Ryan Mason or Tom Carroll to provide better cover in the centre of the park.
Alex Pritchard is another who was highly rated at Tottenham, but their return to the Champions League means that his opportunities to play would be slim.
The £8m price quoted by Thomas seems a bit steep for a talent who is only proven at Championship level, but we know Daniel Levy drives a hard bargain!
As Thomas alludes to, speedy forward Clinton N’Jie is in talks with Marseille about a loan return to France, only 12 months after arriving from Lyon.
And the last of the up-for-sale quartet, Federico Fazio, who spent the second half of last season with Sevilla, is most likely to go back to Spain once more.
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