Lewis Holtby’s season-and-a-half at Tottenham didn’t go as planned, with the German back appearing 39 times and scoring thrice before moving across London with January’s loan move to Fulham.
But what might surprise Spurs fans is that he doesn’t consider his transfer from Schalke to Tottenham a failure, nor is he ruling out a return to the club.
Holtby was complimentary of Andre Villas-Boas and said Sherwood’s change in formation didn’t play to his skill set. His translated comments (always dangerous) from a German interview are interesting to say the least.
“Tottenham was at the end certainly a difficult time,” Holtby is quoted as saying. “I’ve always given everything. The coach (Tim Sherwood) has even confirmed to me that I was almost continuously the best trainer. But anyway, I rarely played.”
“To me it is important to note that I did not fail at Tottenham,” he said. “Every time when I was not in the squad, I was either injured or ineligible. It looked outwardly perhaps sometimes different, but just as it was. And maybe in the summer (I’ll go) back.”
Is that an indictment of Spurs manager Tim Sherwood? Maybe.
Holtby played eight minutes in a brief debut for the Cottagers in their 5-1 loss to Manchester City before going all 90 in Fulham’s 3-0 loss to Southampton last week.
