The signing of Tanguy Ndombele in the summer for a reported club-record fee as reported by BBC Sport was seen as a turning point for Tottenham as a club.
No longer were Spurs seen as the side that wheeled-and-dealed for players on the cheap following a year that saw the north London club make their first-ever Champions League final as well as finish in the Premier League top-four again.
Things were coming up Tottenham, yet here we are in January, and Spurs, as well as Ndombele, look like a shadow of their former selves.
The arrival of Jose Mourinho has done little to improve the former Lyon star’s confidence at his new club, with stats from Transfermarkt showing that Ndombele has only played 232 minutes of football under the Portuguese manager, with injuries being a large part to his absence away from the first-team in recent weeks.
Is Tanguy Ndombele our best midfielder?
Yes!
No!
And the former Manchester United boss has admitted via Football London that Ndombele is a player with ‘lots of problems’, with Mourinho saying about the club’s summer signings: “The players that come, Giovani (Lo Celso), (Ryan) Sessegnon, Ndombele, you see the young boy is in a process of developing and we are giving him time to do that. Giovani comes from completely different football cultures. Played in Spain, Argentina, played in Spain, played in France, now he comes again. You can feel that he is coming.
“Ndombele not even coming. Injured and with lots of problems, so you cannot compare what was four years ago in the cycle of four years to what it is now. So, we have to work.”
The French midfielder has had a poor start to life in north London with injuries and a change in manager disrupting what once looked like a promising season for Ndombele, and whilst Mourinho’s comments come across as damming, the Tottenham manager now must stand by his player if he is to get the best out of him.
Tottenham didn’t spend over £50m for Ndombele just for him to remain on the bench, and Mourinho, for all his stubbornness, must aim to get the best out of the 23-year-old midfielder as well as backing him through his recovery back to first-team football.