Daniel Levy had something for nothing, which is precisely how he likes it. The Tottenham Hotspur chairman had the signature on the pre-contract and he was looking forward to welcoming Schalke's attacking midfielder Lewis Holtby as a Bosman free agent in June.

When the situation altered, it is possible to imagine Levy, the arch ball-breaker, as enduring all manner of agonies. André Villas-Boas, the Tottenham manager, had lost a body in midfield – Sandro was out for the season after knee surgery – and he was keen to bring forward Holtby's transfer to the current window. Whisper it to Levy, it would now cost a small fee.

And yet, Levy's willingness to pay the £1.5m in what, for him, had to be considered as expedient fashion – more than 72 whole hours before Thursday's deadline – revealed everything that you needed to know about the deal. It was put to Villas-Boas on Tuesday lunchtime, ahead of Wednesday night's Premier League fixture at Norwich City, when Holtby will travel as part of the 19-man squad, that this was the deal of the century.

"Yes, I think so," he replied. "The January market is very, very demanding. Transfer fees can be ridiculously high. But on Lewis's case, it was the opposite so we managed to make a good deal and bring him in early."

Tottenham are getting a 22-year-old Germany international, who was central to the offensive ambitions of one of the Bundesliga's leading clubs and had been primed to feature in the Champions League knockout phase; Schalke fancy their chances against Galatasaray in the last 16. Villas-Boas has likened him to Rafael van der Vaart, the No10 he sold to Hamburg last August. And just to repeat: the fee is £1.5m. On a purely business level, Levy would have no shortage of takers at a far higher sell-on price, even if things did not work out.

It is remarkable that one of Germany's brightest young talents has been allowed to run down his contract yet there does not seem to be any sense of recrimination. In his first appearance for Schalke since the original announcement that he would join Tottenham in June, he starred in the thrilling 5-4 home win over Hannover, making goals, scoring one and departing to an ovation upon his substitution. Imagine that happening to a want-away player in the Premier League.

Schalke were happy to salvage the fee for him and it has all felt very German, with the rider being that Holtby is part-English. It is the part, he jokes, that makes him rubbish at taking penalties. His father, Chris, an Everton-supporting Liverpudlian, was in the British army, a veteran of the Falklands conflict, and was posted to Germany where he met his future wife, Heidi. They settled in Mönchengladbach, where the British army had barracks close to Borussia Mönchengladbach's new stadium. Holtby would support the club as a boy.

He was eligible to play for England until he made his full competitive debut for Germany against Azerbaijan in June 2011 – he has three caps – but he admitted that his allegiances had been cast when he played his first match for Germany's Under-18s. He has never lived in England, until now, and he has played only one senior game on English soil –for Schalke in the 2-0 Champions League win at Arsenal last October.

"At first, it did feel a bit strange when I played for Germany with the Under-18s in 2007 but once I played that was probably it," Holtby said. "Nobody from the English FA got in contact and it would probably have been too late. I would have felt a traitor changing shirts."

Holtby has long harboured the ambition to play in England – he lists one of his sporting idols as Manchester United's Ryan Giggs – and there is excitement as he begins his four-and-a-half-year contract at White Hart Lane. Villas-Boas spoke of his creative and goalscoring threat, of his "brilliant left foot" but, above all, he sounded as pleased as punch at a transfer market coup.

"It's difficult to find a 22-year-old full international running down his contract and we were extremely lucky because we faced tough competition for him," Villas-Boas said. "There was competition from all over. He's recognised as an excellent young talent and he was very willing to come to Spurs. He has done extremely well in Germany and we have high expectations for him. It is a major boost that we managed to have him in January."

Villas-Boas spoke to Holtby as Tottenham sought his signature and so did Steffen Freund, the club's assistant manager and former Germany international. Freund knows a thing or two about football in the Ruhr Valley, having played for Schalke and Borussia Dortmund.

"All of us wanted to give Lewis a feeling of the club and what he could expect," Villas-Boas said. "Players settle in differently but I hope his English background can help him a little bit. He knows the culture and the language very well so, hopefully, he can be quicker to adapt."

Holtby's versatility is a strength. He has played as a holding midfielder, and wide right and left, but the creative role behind the striker is where Villas-Boas sees him. As such, Holtby enters competition with the summer signings Gylfi Sigurdsson and Clint Dempsey.

"He will fill the No10 position, although he can play right or left, which he did for Mainz at the beginning of his career," Villas-Boas said. "We have the expectation because of his creativity and we can compare him to Rafa [van der Vaart] to a certain extent because he was a full international coming from a big club. Lewis has all of his career ahead of him."