Well, I’ve been waiting for some authoritative overseas information, and this mention is perhaps one of the first and hopefully not the last we get before threw this torturous transfer window. French journalist Julien Maynard understands that the discussions about Houssem Aouar have revealed that Tottenham player Tanguy Ndombele is not closed to quitting Spurs, but is disinterested in a move out of London if it were to take him outside the desired top European qualification spots.
This also suggests that Fabio Paratici may have broader problems in his search for players with whom to churn the current squad, in that our existing players are not going to be easy to incorporate into perspective deals; in this instance, a player with ambitions that exceed his current form.
Ndombele joined Spurs from Lyon for a club-record £55million fee in July 2019 and has struggled to show us more than glimpses of the talent he undoubtedly has. It will be fascinating to see if the Frenchman has improved his fitness this summer…
I’ve been a Ndombele advocate. But the facts are that he’s our record signing by some distance and he cannot complete 90 minutes after two years here (and he cannot really defend). He must improve. Or how much longer should we wait for him to bring his A-game consistently? Spurs paid 55 million pounds for him and have so far seen precious little in return.
Lo Celso was one of our few decent performers in early Jose times, which is why I suspect Mourinho put him back in immediately. But he cannot stay fit to save his life either and the injuries seem to have made him regress.
They’re both talented, no question about that. But if starting them means we’re essentially two subs down right from the off, we might be better off without them.
Our midfield attack and creativity is based on two players who can’t last more than an hour and one who seems unable to stay injury free. That’s worrying.
Good post, but you blanketed your comments with generalizations. Last year he started slow, played at the #10 spot, got better over time in my opinion. I thought Jose was genious having Kane dropping deeper to make up for Tanguy not able to get back. Once Locelso came back, Tanguy was moved back to the holding mid and Sissoko was banished. I thought he had turn the corner, he was slick, skillful and the only attacking force behind Kane and Son for 60 minutes at the #10 spot. It baffles me why Jose moved him and handed Gio the keys to the offense, a guy coming off injuries and setbacks. Just like Tanguy Gio could not give us 90 minutes. Systems and formations counts for a lot and us playing on the backfoot did not suit a number of our players because they were just a poor group of defenders in the system they were ask to play. I personally do not think Tanguy has an attitude problem. His mannerism is such even after a good performance, you think he got the bad news, someone stole his cat. Skillful players and carriers of the ball need that rear guard, he had only PEH, but I still believe even at 60 to 70 minutes he was humming in the final third. Let me say this, he is responsible for his fitness especially after coming over and realizing the English game is no joke for speed and ruggedness. I hope we play a 4123 system so he and Gio can be of the pitch together. The easiest of system for a defender to step up into the midfield to add more bulk in transition.
Ndombele was impressive at Lyon. Shame he hasent stepped up. Really looked like the real deal. As for Aouar, he seem like a tidy little player. Saw him boss the midfield in CL games a couple of years ago. That doesent mean anything though, cause so did Ndombele.
But Aouar also seem to attract controversies. Complained when he didnt get to play in his preferred position, left out of the squad for disciplinary reasons, refused to train at occations last season… And a couple of weeks ago he simply failed to return to training with Lyon, according to French online sources.
Perhaps not the ideal player for Spurs at the moment.
..could av got Hagi AND McGinn 2 years ago for cheaper than NDombele.
Wow. He fancy’s himself considering he’s done N O T H I N G to warrant anything.
The Aouar inquiries went as follows…”Can we get him for free”…..
“errrr.. ..,No”……*dial tone…
Not a chance.
What floats around the minds of some modern day players is akin to boys dreaming of becoming Superman or the like when they grow up.
They show the very occasional piece of brilliance which seems to be enough to categorise them as superstars that justifies their obscene salaries.
Ndombele has done very little to show he deserves credit or such a salary in his career so far for all the hype and promise, he has had a somewhat checkered career that has so far not delivered.
Ability yes, but attitude, character and desire are questionable to the point where I wouldn’t be disappointed if he moved on.
We need players who want to be here and have a pair, and show the qualities mentioned, get rid of those who don’t have them, and bring in players who want to come here for the right reasons.
Not only that, but there’s also the small matter of the 200,000 clams a week he’s trousering. The liklihood of finding a CL club that also wants to chuck that kind of wedge at someone who can jog for about an hour seems remote.
If this is true, Tanguy should focus more on his mind-boggling fitness issues rather than eyeing a move to some more prestigious club. He’s been here two years and I could count the full games he played on the fingers of one hand.
To be honest, which top clubs would want him? We’ve had occasionally promising performances that made us think this guy was the real deal, if only we could unlock his potential – but for 55 million, I would expect a damn lot more than spending two years waiting and hoping.
Also, neither Poch nor Jose got the best out of him. Will Nuno? Maybe, but I’m not getting my hopes up anytime soon.
Time to start asking much, much more of our record signing – and if he doesn’t perform in his third (!) season, just get rid. Remember we paid 55 million for him? Aulas probably couldn’t believe his luck – and the stupidity and negligence of our scouts.
Hojbjerg signed for 15M – or for 3M, if you consider KWP going in the other direction. Just let that sink in.