Lewis Holtby's exit seems very likely

This post is part of a deadline morning series on potential Tottenham transfers.You can find all of the posts in the series right here, as well as the initial post explaining this series right here.

When Lewis Holtby arrived in the winter of 2013, he was supposed to be the classy No. 10 the team lacked and the catalyst that pushed Spurs up the table. He was a can't miss signing that Tottenham Hotspur were sure to get the best out of. But, for whatever reason, Holtby has never reached the level he achieved at Schalke for his new team.

A pretty solid preseason and some substitution/Europa League run-outs might have salvaged Holtby's Spurs career in the short term, but he's been heavily linked to Hamburg SV, and Spurs are probably very willing to sell him if they can fetch a decent fee. He's not going to become a first choice player for Mauricio Pochettino and he was only purchased for £2m, so Levy won't be too mad about ditching a player he's going to make a good profit on, even if he envisioned that profit being much bigger 18 months ago.

Age: 23

Likelihood he'll play if he stays: As a sub, cup and Europa player, but no more than that

Potential suitors: Hamburg SV, probably a lot of bottom-half Premier League teams

Price if he's sold: Around £5m

Loan or sale?: Another loan is possible, but expect a sale.

The verdict - Will he be an active Spurs player on September 2?: 70/30 he leaves. Of the players Spurs are likely to get rid of, he's the easiest to sell. The team is willing to take a pretty low fee, he's only 23 and he hasn't had serious injury problems. He's much more likely to get the boot than Paulinho or Sandro.