Lewis Holtby says his former Tottenham teammate was even better than Toni Kroos
Lewis Holtby has revealed that he was in awe of a former Tottenham man in training, opining that he was even better than his former German international teammate Toni Kroos.
It is fair to say that most Spurs fans will have already guessed which player Holtby is talking about.
Mousa Dembele made such an impression on his peers that his former teammates and opponents alike rave about him, often even naming him as the best player they played with or against.
Even those who have played with Galacticos at some of the biggest clubs in world football, like Antonio Rudiger, have said that Dembele is the best player they have come up against.
Lewis Holtby becomes the latest to rave about Mousa Dembele
Holtby did not play with Dembele during his peak years at Tottenham, with the German leaving the club for Hamburg in the summer of 2015 when Mauricio Pochettino arrived at White Hart Lane.
However, the 34-year-old, who now plays for NAC Breda in the Eredivisie, admitted that he was blown away when he trained with the former Tottenham Hotspur man.
When asked to pick between Toni Kross and Mousa Dembele, Holtby responded to ESPN Netherlands on TikTok: “I knew this question would come. Listen, Toni Kroos won everything, he was incredible; he was so good.
“But, to be honest, when I was in training with Mousa Dembele, I was shocked by how good he was on the ball and how strong he was on the ball. He’s like a proper street footballer, so I will say Mousa Dembele.”
Dembele’s time at Tottenham is the stuff of legends
It is fair to say that when Dembele was playing for Tottenham, he was criminally underrated by non-Spurs fans, rarely being mentioned in the same breath as the best players in the Premier League.
However, it was always clear that he had the ultimate respect among his peers, and it is a testament to his sheer dominance in possession that so many great players continue to class him as the most talented player they came up against.
Usually, the phrase ‘streets do not forget’ is used to describe underrated players, but in Dembele’s case, he does not just have the support of the streets, but also the whole Premier League fraternity.
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