The curious case of Benjamin Stambouli

If the latest news reports are be believed Spurs midfielder Benjamin Stambouli is, as we speak, having a medical with Paris Saint-Germain in advance of an official announcement later today.

The French champions’ coach, Laurent Blanc, has himself intimated as much so there is some considerable weight behind the stories.

While he was by no means a household name, Stambouli appeared at least on paper to be an astute signing for Spurs. The cultured midfielder arrived at White Hart Lane for £4.7m a year ago with a decent pedigree, having developed into an integral player for Montpellier HSC and playing a key role in their 2011-12 Ligue 1 winning side – the first and only time the club have lifted the trophy.

[linequote] he was always seen as the budget alternative to Morgan Schneiderlin – Spurs head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s first-choice transfer target[/linequote]

In his final season at the French south coast club, Stambouli played 37 out of their 38 league games and was even promoted to the position of vice-captain.

However the fact he was yet (and still hasn’t been able) to win an international cap for “Les Bleus” was a slight concern. In addition, he was always seen as the budget alternative to Morgan Schneiderlin – Spurs head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s first-choice transfer target – and this didn’t help his cause much.

Last season, Stambouli only featured in 12 league games for Spurs and 25 in all competitions, with many of these appearances coming off the bench. He took advantage of the limited game-time though, generally putting in some decent performances on the way to being arguably our best central midfielder after Nabil Bentaleb.

But he couldn’t hold down anything approaching a first team place and his impending departure this week seems like the only logical outcome for all parties.

Now for the record, I generally like Pochettino and have a degree of faith in what he is doing at White Hart Lane. But I can’t help but question his man-management at times, with Stambouli’s treatment a prime example.

In the latter half of last season, several Spurs players struggled with fatigue and form, due to being involved in a lot of competitions while using a relatively small pool of talent. The decision to do the latter was a Pochettino one with a lot of decent squad players, who still had something to offer, being used sparingly for some reason.

Stambouli was definitely one of those. As Ryan Mason’s form tailed off in the new year, the Frenchman would have been the perfect alternative to bring in at times. However, in my opinion he was never really given a chance or a run in the side and his departure now is tinged with an element of regret and a feeling of waste.

[linequote] I can’t help but question his man-management at times, with Stambouli’s treatment a prime example[/linequote]

The thing is that he featured so little last season, that we probably won’t miss him at all once he goes. It’ll almost be like we never had him.

He’ll probably go on to win another couple of Ligue 1 championship medals along with the odd game here and there in the Champions League.

But it highlights a previous transfer policy that had more holes than the Wembley pitch and a management style that sometimes makes less sense than a move to Milton Keynes.