GETTY Mauricio Pochettino let Andros Townsend leave in January when he asked to move on

And in a no-nonsense warning to any other want-away stars, he spoke for the first time about his decision to exile Nabil Bentaleb to train with the academy players after the Algeria international made his own demand for a move. Townsend was sold to Newcastle for £12m in January and moved on to Crystal Palace for £13m in the summer, with whom he is scheduled to return to White Hart Lane for a Premier League clash today. His move came after he was fined for pushing fitness coach Nathan Gardiner, the pair having rowed following a victory over Aston Villa in November 2015. Although Townsend never kicked a ball for Tottenham again, Pochettino insisted that had nothing to do with his eventual departure and his absence from the team was entirely due to a lack of appropriate fixtures.

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But he has no truck with players who demand a place in the first team. “Discipline is important,” Pochettino said. “It is important that all players want to be part of the team and play for the team. It is very important to show respect for everyone at the club. “Nabil Bentaleb is now training with the under-21s. He is not with the first team, because he wanted to leave. I explained this very well. If he wanted to leave, he can come and see me, I say ‘Okay, you can leave’. “He is waiting to try to find a place away from Tottenham. But there is nothing to do. We share the changing room and the restaurants all together, it is not a problem.

GETTY Nabil Bentaleb is currently training with the under-21s