Soccer-Stambouli leaves Spurs to join PSG on five-year deal

LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - Defensive midfielder Benjamin Stambouli has left Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur to join Paris Saint-Germain on a five-year deal for an undisclosed fee, the French champions said on Tuesday. The 24-year-old made 12 appearances after joining Spurs last September from Montpellier. "I wasn't necessarily planning to leave the Premier League after one year but when a club with the stature of Paris Saint-Germain calls you, it makes your choice a lot easier," Stambouli said in a statement from PSG. The former France under-21 player was a member of the Montpellier squad that won the Ligue 1 title in 2012. PSG paid a fee of about six million pounds ($9.35 million) for Stambouli, according to British media reports. "He is a French player who has already proved the impact that he can make in midfield both athletically and technically," PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said. "France is going to rediscover a player that was full of promises when he was playing in Ligue 1." ($1 = 0.6416 pounds) (Writing by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by John O'Brien)