Tottenham Hotspur have announced that they have reached an agreement with Germany Under-21 captain Lewis Holtby to join the club in the summer.

The player will now join the club in July from Bundesliga side Schalke subject to a medical.

A host of Premier League clubs were linked with the midifielder including Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea but Spurs have secured his signature.

The creative midfielder began his professional career with Alemannia Aachen and his impressive performances in the German second division soon caught the attention of a number of top-flight Bundesliga sides before he made the move to Schalke in the summer of 2009.

He enjoyed loan spells with Bochum and Mainz prior to making his breakthrough at Schalke. To date, he has made 75 appearances for the Gelsenkirchen-based club in all competitions, scoring 11 times as well as earning three caps for the senior German national side.

Spurs assistant head coach Steffen Freund said: "Lewis is half-English and loves the Premier League.

"I know him, he is the captain of the German Under 21 team and will lead them at the European Championship in Israel next summer.

"He is out of contract at the age of 22. I don’t know him well but what I can say is that he is a really good player."