Tottenham Hotspur star seeks significant wage increase in order to stay at White Hart Lane

Tottenham Hotspur have handed out some pretty significant contract extensions to some key players this season, most notably Harry Kane. One name, however, has been missing from that list, Nabil Bentaleb. Now, we know (allegedly) why. According to the London Evening Standard, Bentaleb and his agents are seeking wages equal to those of key players like Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen, and Jan Vertonghen. According to Tom Collomosse, of the Standard:

It is believed Spurs are prepared to hand Bentaleb (a new deal worth about £25,000 a week — the same as midfield colleague Ryan Mason and a big improvement on his current wage, thought to be £8,000 weekly. Yet Bentaleb’s advisors consider him to be worth more and are pushing for a contract closer to the £40,000-a-week mark.

That would put him on a similar level to Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen and Jan Vertonghen — although still some way short of top earners Emmanuel Adebayor, Hugo Lloris and Roberto Soldado.

Putting aside how weird it is that Eriksen and Vertonghen are only on £40,000 per week, I still think it's likely that the Club and Bentaleb come to some agreement. Bentaleb now has almost two seasons of top level football under his belt and he's appeared in a World Cup. Simply bringing Bentaleb to the level of what Mason earns would be a bit of a slap in the face, when stacking the two's achievements side-by-side. I'd venture that Bentaleb is certainly worth  £30,000 plus and if the two sides are at 25 and 40, then somewhere in the 30's seems like a reasonable settlement for all concerned.

Hopefully this is a situation that gets ironed out in the near future and turns into a total non-story.