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Napoli Interested in Tottenham’s Nabil Bentaleb

By Alexander Balano

LEICESTER, ENGLAND - MARCH 18: Nabil Bentaleb of Spurs U21 looks on during the Barclays U21 Premier League match between Leicester City U21 and Tottenham Hotspurs U21 at The King Power Stadium on March 18, 2016 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
LEICESTER, ENGLAND - MARCH 18: Nabil Bentaleb of Spurs U21 looks on during the Barclays U21 Premier League match between Leicester City U21 and Tottenham Hotspurs U21 at The King Power Stadium on March 18, 2016 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /
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Napoli and Crystal Palace too, are currently showing interest in Tottenham Hotspur’s Nabil Bentaleb after his second season with Spurs was mired with injury and bad form. Prolonged talks for a contract extension last summer didn’t make things any easier either.

A few days ago, there was a report by the Daily Mail which suggested that Napoli were interested in signing Nabil Bentaleb. The 21-year-old defensive midfielder is by no means on the transfer market to be sold. But with Tottenham linked to Victor Wanyama and closing in on the Kenyan international, perhaps Bentaleb could indeed be gone this summer.

Related Story: What is Nabil Bentaleb's Future with Tottenham?

Another club looking to swoop in is Crystal Palace.

And with Alan Pardew already securing the services of former Tottenham striker, Emmanuel Adebayor, who was an outcast during Spurs 2014-15 campaign, Pardew might believe that signing Bentaleb would offer his squad a talented young player who has plenty of potential.

Assuming of course that the Algerian international can return to his 2014-15 form when he was paired up with Ryan Mason as Pochettino’s first choice double pivot for Spurs.

At the moment, nothing has happened on either front between Napoli and Crystal Palace, with regards to Tottenham actually selling Nabil Bentaleb. Although the Daily Mail notes that Napoli have already made contact with Spurs, just that an inquiry hasn’t been made yet.

LEICESTER, ENGLAND – JANUARY 20 : Nabil Bentaleb of Tottenham Hotspur with manager Mauricio Pochettino of Tottenham Hotspur during The Emirates FA Cup Third Round Replay match between Leicester City and Tottenham at the King Power Stadium on January 20 , 2016 in Leicester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)
LEICESTER, ENGLAND – JANUARY 20 : Nabil Bentaleb of Tottenham Hotspur with manager Mauricio Pochettino of Tottenham Hotspur during The Emirates FA Cup Third Round Replay match between Leicester City and Tottenham at the King Power Stadium on January 20 , 2016 in Leicester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images) /

"“It has been reported that Mauricio Pochettino is interested in signing the central midfielder [Victor Wanyama] from Southampton.”“Reports in Italy suggest that Napoli have made calls for information regarding Bentaleb but an approach or a formal enquiry has not yet been made.”"

Now, there’s two ways to go about this situation if Mauricio Pochettino plays his cards right. The first option is to keep Nabil Bentaleb even though they are able to sign Victor Wanyama.

Doing this gives Pochettino three defensive midfielders on his squad. Typically that might seem overkill as having two should be more than enough, granted that they get enough rotation throughout an entire season.

But because Mousa Dembélé is going to miss the first four games of the 2016-17 Premier League season, slotting in Wanyama next to Eric Dier keeps Dele Alli playing behind Harry Kane.

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Should Alli be forced to drop deeper and form a double pivot with Dier again, that would be fine. In fact, that wouldn’t be a problem. Finding a starting left midfielder, however, will be difficult because Christian Eriksen will switch back to a central attacking midfielder.

As we can see, the only other options to play out wide on the left, is either Son Heung-Min or Nacer Chadli. Both are good players, but maybe not what Mauricio Pochettino might want as a starter.

This brings us to the second option.

If Nabil Bentaleb is sold because Tottenham signed Victor Wanyama, Spurs would carry two defensive midfielders which isn’t bad. A bit thin, but not too serious if Tottenham can survive for four games.

Because those first four games will be tricky, as Eric Dier will have no backup and is going to be coming off of a European Championship campaign where he has started in England’s first two games — with a chance that he could start in England’s third match too — while also taking part in Tottenham’s pre-season tour that will be coming up.

Dier, is like Harry Kane and Toby Alderweireld, in that he hasn’t gotten much rest since becoming a full-time starter this past term. That’s a major red flag as it’s entirely possible Tottenham starts off slow to begin next season because they don’t want to overwork their players.

If Mauricio Pochettino does, which he will because that’s how he coaches, Spurs who managed to get away with only some key injuries last season could be looking at more knocks this year putting them in a big bind with Champions League football and the League Cup starting in September. Then of course the FA Cup starting after the New Year all the while competing in the Premier League.

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At the end of the day, while Tottenham can go out and sign Victor Wanyama, that shouldn’t be enough of a reason to sell Nabil Bentaleb.

It’s true that the Algerian international didn’t have a good season last year making only 11 senior team appearances, with the rest (15) playing for Spurs’ second team.

But it shows that at 21, Bentaleb still has a bright future with this club. He might never reclaim his spot as a starter so long as Eric Dier is around, but he could very well be an understudy and regain his form and become a good enough backup player that Tottenham desperately needs this summer.