Tanguy Ndombele was a notable absentee for Tottenham in Wednesday’s Audi Cup clash with Bayern Munich. The 22-year-old was substituted at half-time against Real Madrid on Tuesday and hasn’t been seen since. Rob Guest of Football.London has explained why.
The decision was down to Mauricio Pochettino wanting to ‘manage Ndombele’s integration with the first-team’, due to the French international only joining on July 2. Supporters needn’t worry about any injury woes to the club-record signing.
Ndombele is expected to be a regular at the heart of the midfield, potentially alongside Harry Winks, but his manager is being careful with his minutes to avoid overloading him. Football.London say the box-to-box player should return against Inter Milan on Sunday, August 4, however.
The Lilywhites have now played in four pre-season friendlies – Juventus (July 21), Manchester United (July 25), Real Madrid (July 30) and Bayern (July 31). Ndombele had featured in every outing before being left out against Bayern. Whether he’s prime to start in Tottenham’s first Premier League game of the season against Aston Villa on Saturday, August 10 remains to be seen, however.
There’s no doubt he can become a regular, but Pochettino might ease the midfielder into the Premier League for the first few weeks.