Belgium international Mousa Dembele has revealed why he opted to leave Tottenham for Guangzhou R&F last month.
Dembele, 31, spent nearly seven remarkable years in North London, endearing his way to the faithful with impressive performances.
He wasn’t the most-skilful, strongest or technically gifted middlemen around.
But the 31-year-old’s hard work, dedication and humility won him admirers even beyond London.
Dembele featured 250 times for Spurs, hitting the net 11 times.
His decision to swap an utterly competitive Premier League for the Chinese League came as a huge surprise.
While there were speculations that he moved for the money, Dembele has suggested that it was all about a new challenge.
He said as quoted by Sky Sports that: “I wanted to have a different experience in life. I heard already there is good food in Guangzhou. I will try this a lot. I think my family will enjoy it as well here.”
Dembele joined Spurs from Fulham for £15 million but left for less than that fee to Asia.
It isn’t surprising. The Belgian struggled with varying degrees of injury this season. He started just seven league games, the last was over two months ago.
Pochettino wasn’t so keen to allow the 31-year-old to depart last summer but didn’t ignore the last approach.
Dembele began his career at defunct Belgian side, Beerschot A.C in 2003 before moving to the Netherlands.
His first stop was Willem II in 2005 then AZ just one year later.
It was there he developed into an elite midfielder in four years, racking over a century of appearances with 24 goals.
Dembele is unlikely to make many headlines in Europe following his move to China, but I’m sure the player will impress his new fans with his incredible technical ability.
