Besiktas preparing bid for frozen-out Spurs defender Kaboul

The season of Tottenham Hotspur's Younes Kaboul has been a strange one. After losing nearly two full years to injury, he returned match-fit this fall. The French center back was named club co-captain and appeared to be ahead even of Jan Vertonghen on the depth chart. His play was at best rocky, though Kaboul did have some solid matches in games where he was not forced to defend any one-on-ones.

On November 9^th, Spurs were defeated at home 1-2 by Stoke City with Kaboul picking up a yellow card and generally having a poor match. And then he disappeared. Kaboul was an unused substitute in three of the next four Premier League matches but did not see a minute on the pitch. After that he has failed even to make the bench for a league match and only once was named in the squad for a domestic cup tie. The club co-captain has played 90 minutes since the Stoke City match, all in Spurs' 1-0 defeat at Beşiktaş to conclude Europa League group play.

Now a report comes from CNN Turk which suggests Kaboul may have earned those paltry minutes only as a showcase. Turkish-football.com passes along a CNN Turk story that Beşiktaş are now preparing a bid for Kaboul.

Beşiktaş are set to table a bid for Tottenham defender Younes Kaboul according to CNN Turk. Black Eagles president Fikret Orman recently confirmed the clubs main January transfer target is to bring in an additional defender and fullback.

Whether CNN Turk is a particularly reputable source for transfer news, we have no idea. But a bid from a Turkish side for Kaboul is plausible, it does fit the center back's timeline reasonably well. Given that Kaboul does not appear to have a place in this squad, if the Beşiktaş bid is the real deal, expect a transfer this January.

UPDATE: The story has now perhaps been confirmed by a report from France Football that Kaboul was approached by Beşiktaş about a possible move, though no official offer has been placed. This is looking pretty solid.