A look back at Dembele’s top five moments in a Spurs shirt

If the reports in the British press are to believed Tottenham midfielder Mousa Dembele is close to a move to Chinese Super League club Beijing Sinobo Guoan after having traveled to Hong Kong to complete his medical.

While the £9 million Spurs will receive for the player represents good value considering that his contract with the club runs out at the end of the season, there is no doubt that Spurs fans will be sad to see the Belgian leave.

The Belgian has put in some memorable performances in the six and a half years that he spent at the club.

Here are the five of the best moments the midfielder has had at Tottenham

5) Performance in the 0-4 win against Stoke (18th April, 2016)

While Spurs fans ultimately remember the 15/16 season for their failure to pip Leicester City to the title, the season did represent the coming of age of this Spurs side. This was the season when Spurs went from a club hoping to challenge for the 4th spot, to one that challenges for the title.

Dembele was one of the players crucial to that transformation as he started dictating games and ensured that Tottenham won the midfield battle everytime they took the field.

The 4-0 away win against Stoke in April was the time when Tottenham’s season peaked. Dembele completely ran the show, in what was a dominating performance from Lillywhites.

4) Battle of the Bridge (3rd, May 2016)

This has been nominated not particularly due to Dembele’s performance but due to the fight that he showed. While Tottenham knew they probably weren’t going to win the league by the time this game rolled around, they were still determined to show that they could get up for a fight and didn’t have a “soft underbelly”.

Dembele was certainly up for the fight that day, getting into multiple confrontations with the likes of Mikel and Fabregas. No Spurs fan will likely forget Dembele giving Diego Costa a taste of his own medicine.

3) The goal against Lyon (21st February 2013)

Dembele’s goal against Lyon in the Europa League in 2013 was perhaps the most important goal he scored during his time at the club. While Dembele wasn’t particularly known for his goal-scoring prowess, his goal against the French giants in the 90th minute ensured that Tottenham progressed to the final 16 of the Europa League.

With Lyon leading the game 1-0 in the game, Spurs were on the brink of being knocked out of the competition based on the away goals rule. However, Dembele picked up the ball, skipped past Clement Grenier, and struck low into the bottom corner to put Spurs through to the next round.

2) Performance in Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Chelsea (5th January 2017)

Going into the game, Tottenham were facing a Chelsea side under Conte that had won 13 straight games in the Premier League and were top of the table. Spurs however outclassed Chelsea over the 90 minutes and Dembele in the middle of the park absolutely bossed Nemanja Matic and Ngolo Kante, paving the way for a comfortable Tottenham victory.

1) Performance in the 2-2 draw at Turin (14th February 2018)

Tottenham went into the round of 16 game against Juventus as underdogs and in the first leg, the home side went 2-0 up within the first 10 minutes of the game. However, rather than being flustered Spurs kept playing their football and completely dictated the game, eventually managing to draw the game 2-2.

Dembele was absolutely outstanding in the middle of the park and showed that even when he was up against world class players, it was difficult to knock him off the ball when he was on his stride.

While Spurs fans would be extremely sad to see Dembele leave the club without any silverware, there is absolutely no doubt that he was one of the most gifted players to have played at the club in recent times and he deserves to be remembered as someone who was unplayable on his day.

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