Tottenham Place €8m Price On Lewis Holtby With Schalke Chasing

Tottenham have slapped an €8m price tag on Lewis Holtby's head as the midfielder pushes for a move back to former club Schalke.

Holtby's agent confirmed that the Germany international is desperate to leave Spurs this month in order to gain more game time in preparation for the Brazil World Cup. He has struggled to maintain a regular spot in the starting line-up since his move to the north London club a year ago and Schalke have made their interest clear.

But the Bundesliga club might be deterred by the asking price with Schalke already admitting that a loan spell would be difficult to make financially possible for the 23-year-old.

"We are looking at him, and other options," sporting director Horst Heldt told Bild. "[But] we will not break our financial framework."

And now, with the German paper claiming that Holtby will cost nearly €10m after the star left the club for almost nothing last winter as his contract ran down, they may be keen to look at cheaper alternatives.

Tottenham beat Arsenal to sign Holtby in last January's transfer window but his position in Andre Villas-Boas' squad was never clear with a host of midfielders available and fighting for a place in the starting line-up.

The manager signed a further four players for the middle of the park in the summer, making the future look even more bleak for Holtby and while he has played 21 times for the club this season just 12 of those have been in the Premier League.

Joachim Low certainly has a lot of options at his disposal in preparation for Brazil and for Holtby to prove himself to the Germany manager his game time must improve in the coming months.

But with Tottenham placing such a high price for his services a move to Schalke might be off the cards.