Tottenham Hotspur's latest aquisition, Lewis Holtby, has heaped praise on his new club and their manager calling Andre Villas-Boas "insanely good".
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The German International snubbed bitter Spurs' rivals Arsenal in favour of the Lilywhites, despite Gunners boss Arsene Wenger approaching the midfielder over a possible move to the red half of north London.
Holtby, who has an English father, is now relishing the prospect of playing in the Premier League and is particularly excited about linking up with Andre Villa-Boas.
"[Tottenham] are not a small club and have an insanely good manager," Holtby told ESPN. "I simply had to take the offer from Tottenham. New things don't scare me, they excite me. In my opinion Tottenham is a big club in Europe.
"Tottenham have belonged to the top five in England since many years and they only missed out on the Champions League because Chelsea won the cup last year."
The 22-year-old added that he would have stayed at the Veltins-Arena had Spurs not shown interest in him.
"Without Tottenham's offer I would have signed at Schalke. I can only repeat that Horst Heldt made a very good offer.
"I believe that I have a good relation to the fans, because I have always been authentic and honest. Now they can decide on their own how to react."
The current German under-21 captain was expected to join Spurs at the end of the season may yet join the club in January, with Schalke manager Horst Heldt confirming they are willing to negotiate an early release for the player.
Heldt was quoted in the Daily Mail as saying: "If Tottenham ask for Holtby in the January window, we will talk to them about it. Nothing has happened yet, but, from our point of view, we are prepared to speak to them.
"It would have to be done quickly, because we would have to find a replacement for him."
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