What the club are saying publicly doesn’t entirely match up with what is happening privately at Hotspur Way. In the last few days, the press office at Tottenham took the uncharacteristically pro active step of quashing the rumour from The Guardian, which suggested talks were underway with Inter Milan, for Tanguy Ndombele.
The story put out by Spurs is that he’s injured and everybody has high hopes that Tanguy can be the big smash hit that was hoped for, when we paid a club record fee and matched Harry Kane’s salary, to secure his services.
Sources close to the club have suggested that whilst the Frenchman is not subject to exit negotiations, however, there is what can only be described as a massive issue with the player.
NDombele has made close to zero effort to assimilate with the group, as well as refusing to participate in any club promotional work. Alas, the 23-year-old is has cut a distanced figure at Hotspur Way, apparently, ever since Mourinho’s comments about the boy being “always injured”.
If one checks Physioroom, there is no return date and no condition update, which is frankly unusual; just the recent quote from Jose, “I know that Ndombele will not help us because his injury will keep him out for the next two matches.”
So is this all Mourinho’s fault? Of course, it is, why on earth should a player with form for unfit be expected to be fit to play all the time?! It’s Jose’s fault when it rains.
Any professional would become exasperated with a player that doesn’t pull his weight, especially with one enjoying such a lavish deal from his employer.
Mourinho is not the one to make the decision on Ndombele’s future, but our source believes that the Special One is more concerned with getting the deal for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg done so Spurs can improve their midfield immediately. Waiting on Tanguy has become a thankless task.
Could Mourinho be hoping that Levy snaps, sells the Frenchman, and so provide the club with some unexpected transfer spends? Either way, this is a dangerous game and the timing could not be worse.