Tottenham Hotspur yesterday reached a pre-contract agreement with Schalke midfielder Lewis Holtby and the German will move to North London in the summer, as reported by talkSPORT.

The Germany under 21 captain was a sought after youngster around Europe but Andre Villas-Boas was quick to tie him down to a summer move.

Holtby is out of contract at the end of this season at Schalke and has so far made 75 appearances for them scoring 11 times.

It was widely thought that Bayern Munich and Arsenal were both interested in bringing in the German international in the summer for free, but Holtby has chosen a move to White Hart Lane.

An attacking midfielder, some would compare the 22 year old to Rafael van der Vaart, who has been sorely missed by Tottenham this season after the likes of Clint Dempsey and Gylfi Sirgurdsson have failed to live up to their billing after their summer arrivals.