As the clubs all-time record signing, most fans had huge expectations for Tanguy Ndombele. The Lyon playmaker was hired under the noses of rivals Arsenal, adding another layer of intrigue to the signing. Ever since he stood stony-faced with the Spurs shirt on hand when he signed, though, Ndombele has felt a curious fit. His way of playing was never a proper fit for Jose Mourinho or Mauricio Pochettino. Under Antonio Conte, it soon became clear that the player was not going to be much use at all.
A loan back to France, with Lyon, was arranged. The playmaker, though, has struggled with injury and form. And with Lyon now set to miss out on European football barring a miracle, the club has made clear they have no intention of making the deal stick. This leaves Spurs with a problem, as they are keen to sell on the high-earning Frenchman to make space for new signings for Conte.
In reality, the club are likely to have to accept a hefty hit on their expenditure. The player is likely to leave, but where he will go depends on a whole host of factors. While teams in Italy and Spain were once keen, his downturn since leaving Lyon the first time around will likely have put suitors off massively.
Reports around the club suggest that even getting back half of their investment in the player would be seen as a positive at this moment in time. So poor was his form for Spurs that many fans were simply happy to see him leave. However, a poor season back in France means even former club Lyon are not keen to do the deal. Not, anyway, at the kind of fees that were previously agreed.
Could Ndombele stop major progress this summer?
Given the tight nature of how Spurs manage their books, some fans worry that this could be problematic. A high earner returning without any hope of a major transfer fee coming back in for the player, Ndombele is now an issue. The fee and the exit of his wages can no longer be counted on or hoped for. This means that the club could be looking at more than a few headaches as they try to solve the problem.
Clubs in France would no doubt take the player on a favourable deal. This would likely mean subsidising much of his wages and putting in a relatively minor fee to the deal. For many, this would be better than keeping the wantaway player in the team.
For Spurs, though, it is simply another layer of intrigue added to this summer. If the club can finish the job off and land in the UEFA Champions League, the hope is that they could absorb the wages and the fee. However, it is crucial that the team finds some way of solving the Ndombele question once and for all. At the moment, he represents the high-spending, high-failure era of the end of the Pochettino era.
For the Conte era to be more successful than that, Ndombele has to go and mistakes like his signing must be avoided.
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