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Tottenham Hotspur Links: Nabil Bentaleb Will Get a Chance to Play this Season

By Alexander Balano

Jul 27, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Nabil Bentaleb reacts during an All-Star press conference at Grand Hyatt. Mandatory Credit: Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 27, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Nabil Bentaleb reacts during an All-Star press conference at Grand Hyatt. Mandatory Credit: Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports /
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Let’s jump straight into the latest Tottenham Hotspur Links.

First up, Mauricio Pochettino has said that Nabil Bentaleb will play this season. The only thing that has really held the 21-year-old Algerian international back is his fitness level, the emergence of Eric Dier and great contributions from Mousa Dembélé and Tom Carroll.

Next, Tottenham’s John McDermott rejects Manchester United’s approach to replace Derek Langley who is set to leave the Red Devils at the end of the season after 16 years as the club’s current head of youth recruitment. And finally, Tottenham are open to playing in either Wembley Stadium or Stadium mk, as Mauricio Pochettino feels both are good options. But does note that Wembley is much closer. It’s time to get to the links down below.

RELATED: THL: Spurs Match Chelsea’s Bid to Groundshare Wembley

With Eric Dier playing phenomenal earlier in the season as Tottenham’s new defensive midfielder, prior to his suspension in which he had to alter his game afterwards so that he wouldn’t pick up any more yellow cards. It was a signal, a slight one, in that maybe things would be okay after Nabil Bentaleb hadn’t started his season on the right foot.

Now when coupled with Mousa Dembélé having a resurgence this term after getting opportunities to start again, Tom Carroll showing that he still has a future with the club and not to mention Bentaleb getting injured this season.

It was apparent that Nabil Bentaleb’s spot on the team was in jeopardy from the opening game of the 2015-16 Premier League campaign.

Still, despite all that has happened to the Algerian midfielder, which hasn’t exactly gone in his favor at all this term, Mauricio Pochettino has said that Nabil Bentaleb will have a chance to play. All it will take is for the 21-year-old to return to full fitness.

“From the beginning, he had a problem. He missed 17 or 18 games with injury,” Pochettino told Sky Sports.

“The team moved on and another player had the opportunity to play.”

“But we keep a very good relationship with Nabil and be sure that, if he works like he works in the last few weeks, he will have the possibility to play.”

“It’s always about a football decision, and performance.”

With a struggling youth academy that hasn’t produced top quality talent in quite some time, and which has also been surpassed by local rivals, Manchester City, who poured £200 million into a state-of-the-art facility. Manchester United had a person in mind who could replace Derek Langley who is set to leave his post after 16 years on the job at the end of the season.

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Unfortunately for the Red Devils, Tottenham’s head of coaching and player development, John McDermott, has rejected Man United’s approach.

The simple and main reason is the fact that McDermott has a strong working relationship with Mauricio Pochettino. That reason alone is already valid enough to stay with Tottenham and not leave for Manchester United.

Another way to look at McDermott’s decision to stay with Tottenham is how the Red Devils prioritize buying players instead of developing them right now. It’s not an exact science that buying players instead of developing your own talent will make a youth academy obsolete. But it surely doesn’t help.

There needs to be a fine balance between signing good to great players across the world, and developing your own players through scouting of youth prospects or teenagers who have gone through a couple of trials/academies without making the grade with certain clubs.

After word broke out yesterday that Tottenham had managed to equal Chelsea’s bid to groundshare Wembley Stadium for one season at the cost of £15 million, which amounts to — roughly — one Toby Alderweireld at £11.5 million and one Kieran Trippier at £3.5 million, (for the sake of transfers since it is January right now) that’s not bad at all.

Granted sharing with London rivals, Chelsea, probably doesn’t sound too enticing to some fans, not all, but some for just one season.

Now with Mauricio Pochettino weighing in and giving his thoughts on the matter, it doesn’t seem like he’s all to worried about where his team ends up playing in two years time.

“It’s an option to play at Wembley but I don’t hear that maybe we will share with Chelsea the option to play there,” Pochettino said when asked about reports of sharing Wembley with the reigning Premier League champions.

“[There has been] no communication from my chairman and we didn’t speak about that. Maybe we will in the future but not yet.”

“It’s a club decision, different possibilities, but we would love to play at Wembley, it’s in London and it’s close – it’s a good option for us but why not Milton Keynes too? Both options are good.”

Next: A Tale of Two Striker Rumors

White Hart Lane to Wembley by car is 30 minutes. By train that will be an hour or two, give or take. When going from White Hart Lane to Stadium mk, by car that will take about an hour. If people took train, it’ll be close to two hours.

Of course the times will vary based on traffic when driving by car and how busy the trains are with everyone riding it. Plus, whether it’s a weekday, a weekend, a noon game, a late afternoon game or an evening game. All of these factors play a part in which stadium would be the better choice.