Tottenham Hotspur central midfielder Tanguy Ndombele looks set to depart north London in the summer transfer window.
What’s the talk?
That’s according to a claim made by Rob Guest, with the journalist suggesting in a recent article for football.london that, following his temporary move to Lyon in January – with the Ligue 1 side possessing a £54m option to buy the midfielder – Ndombele could have already played his final game for Spurs.
Guest went on to state that Antonio Conte’s decision to sanction the 25-year-old’s departure, despite the Italian lacking options in the middle of the park, is a clear indication that the 52-year-old does not view the France international as a part of his long-term plans at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Conte must axe Ndombele
Considering just how poor Ndombele had been for Spurs ever since his £63m move to north London back in July 2019, it would appear an extremely wise move for Conte to move the midfielder on at the end of the current campaign.
Following two seasons in which the £31.5m-rated midfielder averaged well below-par SofaScore match ratings of 6.85 and 6.90, the 25-year-old found his game time extremely limited in the first half of 2021/22 – something that was hardly surprising considering his general level of performance.
Indeed, over his nine Premier League appearances this term, the £120k-per-week dud scored one goal, provided one assist and created one big chance for his teammates, as well as making an average of just 0.4 key passes, 0.1 interceptions, 1.1 tackles, 25.6 passes and winning 3.6 duels – at a success rate of 44% – per game.
These returns saw the man who Alasdair Gold claimed needs a “kick up the backside” and Scott Saunders dubbed “anonymous” average a disastrous SofaScore match rating of 6.58, ranking him as Conte’s third-worst player in the top flight of English football.
However, it has been a rather different story for the Frenchman over his five Ligue 1 outings for Lyon, with the seven-time capped international averaging a much more impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.12.
As such, with Ndombele’s stock currently being the highest it has been for the best part of three years, Conte simply must axe the midfielder this summer – as it is the perfect opportunity for Spurs to make as much as they possibly can back from their enormous outlay on the 25-year-old.
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