Lewis Holtby confused by Tottenham Hotspur snub

Fulham loanee Lewis Holtby has admitted that he is baffled as to why he was not playing more regularly at Tottenham Hotspur.

The German playmaker, 23, has joined the bottom-of-the-table Cottagers on a temporary deal until the end of the season after finding first-team football hard to come by at White Hart Lane.

Holtby has revealed that he had a good relationship with Spurs boss Tim Sherwood, who described him as the best trainer in the club, but never felt that he was given a long enough run in the starting XI.

"Tottenham was certainly a difficult time [for me] at the end," he told T-Online. "I've always given everything and put myself forward in each session.

"The manager even confirmed that I have almost continuously been the best at training. But I still only played very rarely. I was allowed to play three games in a row in between, gave good performances and was then again sitting outside [the team] all of a sudden.

"For a hungry and young player, this is not easy of course. I need games, I want to be on the pitch and help the team. Since I couldn't do this, I had to change something."

Holtby, a £1.5m signing from Schalke in January 2012, only started half of the 22 appearances that he made in all competitions for Tottenham before his January departure, scoring three times.