Newcastle United officially confirmed the arrival of Nabil Bentaleb in the January transfer window and the 25-year-old midfielder has joined the Magpies on loan for the rest of the season.
Newcastle also have an option to make that deal permanent should they wish to do so at the end of the spell.
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Bentaleb is already a highly experienced player, having taken part at the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2015 and 2017 Africa Cup of Nations for his country, and having also previously played in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur.
Still, he was sidelined with a torn meniscus earlier in the season and was effectively frozen out of the Schalke first-team squad ever since he was dropped to the U23s for disciplinary reasons back in March 2019.
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But even with all of that being said, he still seems like a player of immense potential. The revered English journalist Michael Cox heaped praise on him back in 2015, even comparing him to Sergio Busquets of all people.
Here’s what he said for FourFourTwo back then:
“Whereas other players in his role prefer scrapping on the edge of their own box, Bentaleb is happy to push up the pitch and make quick interceptions to recover the ball immediately, in a manner reminiscent of Sergio Busquets.
“And, while Bentaleb is predominantly a defensive midfielder and it’s difficult to imagine him being deployed higher up the pitch, he’s capable of contributing in an attacking sense too.”
It seems that Bentaleb can still offer quite a lot to the Magpies as he is someone who can cover both sides of the pitch and contribute to the defensive and the offensive sense, as Cox emphasised as well.
Needless to say, it will be interesting to see how he performs at his new club. So far, he’s only made his debut in the FA Cup clash against Oxford United, tallying 80 minutes under his belt in the process.
