Nabil Bentaleb completes loan move to Schalke, will wear the #10 shirt

Well, that escalated quickly. Tottenham Hotspur officially announced that another player is leaving the club, this time confirming the departure of Nabil Bentaleb to Schalke on a season-long loan.

Schalke’s website stated that Bentaleb completed his medical last Thursday but the financials of the deal were done this week. However, it sounds like Schalke have been interested in Nabil for longer than that.

“I am really looking forward to this new challenge at Schalke and getting to know the fans. I first learned of Schalke’s interest six weeks ago and have been hoping since then that the transfer would be completed. Schalke 04 are a big club and their fans have a great reputation in England,” said a happy Bentaleb. “Visiting here in the last week has only confirmed my desire to join. I am very happy and I will work hard to help the team to achieve all their goals throughout the season.”

On his Instagram page, Nabil looked pretty happy.

Predictably, financial details about the loan weren’t disclosed. We can probably surmise that Schalke is picking up Nabil’s wages for this season, and there were previous reports that suggested that there is an option to purchase at the end of this window in the amount of £16.1m.

Schalke also announced that Bentaleb will wear the #10 shirt, most recently worn by Julian Draxler before his sale to Wolfsburg last summer.