Gary Neville has commented on the inconsistent form of Tottenham midfielder Tanguy Ndombele, suggesting he just doesn’t quite fit in to the demands of Premier League football.
The Frenchman looked a world class player in the making when he shone at former club Lyon earlier in his career, and there were big expectations on his shoulders when he first made the move to Spurs.
However, it just hasn’t worked out for Ndombele in England so far, and Neville admits he’s a frustrating player to watch, as you just don’t quite know what to make of him or the role he’s trying to play.
The pundit admits, however, that part of that might be down to the mentality of the English game at the moment, with midfielders often put into different boxes, whereas Ndombele might find he performs better in Serie A or La Liga where he might be free of those kinds of restrictions.
“That’s the thing about Ndombele, you don’t know what to make of him, I don’t think anyone does,” Neville said whilst on commentary duty for Sky Sports, as quoted by football.london. “He’s a fantastic technical player, he takes the ball in difficult situations, he dribbles with it and beats people.
“But then you don’t see him for three or four minutes, six minutes, eight minutes and wonder where he is.
“I watch Ndombele and I think there are a lot of players in Spain and Italy and sometimes they fit those leagues better than this league so I don’t think he’ll be appreciated over here because he doesn’t fit into a position or a type.
“He’s a very good football player.
“We like to put midfield players into a box, he’s a defensive midfield player, he’s an attacking midfield player who assists and scores goals, he doesn’t really fit any of those profiles just plays in the game and contributes between the boxes but I think at both ends does he have enough impact?”
It will be interesting to see if Ndombele can ever improve and show his full potential at Spurs or if this team and this league just isn’t the right fit for the 24-year-old, who could join the long list of other big names who shone in other countries but just couldn’t quite get going in the Premier League.