Tottenham News Scout: Now is the time to finally let Tanguy Ndombele leave Tottenham after four years
Tottenham News is delighted to welcome Matthew Chadder as our exclusive columnist for our ‘Spurs Scout’ features. Each week, he’ll be providing his expertise on researching players to give insight on the biggest talking points at Spurs…
Sometimes admitting to a mistake is the hardest thing a person, or in this case, a club can do, but Tottenham must finally admit theirs.
Four years ago Daniel Levy approved a transfer to bring Tanguy Ndombele to Tottenham for a club-record fee of £63million (Sky Sports, 2 July 2019). Considering the Spurs chairman rarely likes to cross the £40million mark, this must have been a difficult decision to make.
And in the end, it proved to be the wrong decision as Ndombele failed to live up to the price tag or the hype. He was signed under Mauricio Pochettino, who seemed to be getting somewhat of a tune out of the French midfielder until his eventual sacking in November 2019.
From this point forward, life was an absolute nightmare for the now 26-year-old in North London with many suggesting he just wasn’t up to the ridiculously intense demands of the Premier League.
Ndombele has therefore spent time out on loan elsewhere in Europe across the past two seasons with his former club Lyon in Ligue 1 and in Italy with Napoli last season, where he won the Serie A title.
The exact reason why he has made loan switches rather than permanent ones is not entirely clear. Whether it is because permanent suitors have been difficult to find or because Spurs still have hope he will come good could be debated.
Although what can’t be debated is it is now time to finally find a permanent solution for the £60m man. A third loan won’t do anyone any good and with Ange Postecoglou set to get his reign as Tottenham manager officially underway, he will want clarity over the future of his players.
Here, Spurs Scout has attempted to bring that clarity and identify whether the club should let Ndombele go or give him one final chance.
Superpower – On-the-ball ability
There is no doubt that the midfielder is incredibly gifted technically and a fantastic talent when it comes to evading a press and progressing with the ball.
This is firmly supported by the stats, which suggest when he has the ball at his feet, he is simply one of the best in Europe at what he does, as far-fetched as that seems.
As per fbref, over the past calendar year, compared to his positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues, Ndombele was in the top three per cent for the number of take-ons he attempted (4.19 per 90) and the top two per cent for the number of take-ons that he completed (2.29 per 90).
On top of this, he was in the top ten per cent of European midfielders for the number of progressive carries he made (2.90 per 90) and the number of fouls that he drew (2.44 per 90) left him in the top four per cent. This is a particularly important statistic, even if it doesn’t seem so, as it demonstrates how difficult it is for players to get the ball off him.
Ndombele is a midfielder who likes to get forward and does the majority of his work higher up the pitch. He was in the 92nd percentile for the number of touches he made in the middle third (48.58 per 90) and opposition penalty area (2.82 per 90), as well as being in the 83rd percentile for the number of times he would touch the ball in the attacking third (19.68 per 90).
It is clear that on the ball Ndombele is the sort of midfielder who Postecoglou would appreciate in his possession-based, attacking style of football, it is off the ball where the issues lie.
Weakness – Work rate
Some players have all the talent in the world but don’t possess the attitude, work rate or dedication required to make it to the very top, and that has been the exact case in Ndombele’s Tottenham career so far.
While Postecoglou likes to play a possession-based, attacking style of football, it is also a high-energy system that requires plenty of relentless pressing from his players, something supporters would likely scoff at the thought of the Frenchman doing.
And his defensive numbers back up the claims that he is at times very lazy off the ball. As per fbref, first and foremost, while the numbers above suggest he makes plenty of touches in the opposition half, in contrast, the numbers also reveal that he doesn’t do much defending in his own half.
Over the past calendar year, he was in just the 22nd percentile for the number of touches made in his own half (9.46 per 90) and 18th for the number of touches made in his box (1.30 per 90).
He was in the 27th percentile for the number of tackles he made (1.68 per 90) and just the eighth percentile for the number of tackles he won (0.69 per 90). Most shockingly, he was in the lowest percentile compared to his peers across Europe for the number of dribbles he challenged (0.92 per 90), suggesting that he would often let players bypass him.
On 10 March 2020 pundit Jamie Carragher labelled him a “disgrace” in a video posted to Sky Sports’ official YouTube channel after the unbothered playmaker made zero sprints in the first half during Spurs’ clash with Burnley.
In the video, Carragher analyses Ndombele and one of the most concerning aspects of his performance is his poor body language.
The above image shows the player with his head down as he is frustrated that he has to make a run into midfield to support his team.
This is something that Postecoglou would certainly not accept.
Where would Ndombele fit in at Spurs?
There are two clear sides to Ndombele’s game and the frustrating thing for Tottenham supporters is that he is as brilliant at one side of the game as he is poor at the other side.
On the ball, one of the best midfielders in the Premier League and would fit his Australian boss’ system down to a tee. Off the ball, one of the worst midfielders in the Premier League and in modern football you need to at least be at a decent standard for both sides of the game.
While in theory, he would fit the advanced number eight role superbly, his unwillingness to track back and help out defensively means that it wouldn’t work for him in practice and unless he is willing to change that, there is no room for him to fit in anywhere at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
How much could Spurs sell Ndombele for?
This is where the decision to let him go becomes a little bit more painful for Levy.
Considering that he was brought to the club for more than £60million, the reported price that is being quoted for Ndombele does not make for positive reading.
According to The Sun (2 August), Turkish side Galatasaray are interested in signing the Serie A winner and have offered Tottenham £11million for his services – which represents a staggering £44million loss for the North London club.
Should Spurs sell Ndombele?
As difficult as the loss will be for the club to take, now is the time to take it when they still have interested parties.
If they wait any longer, Ndombele’s value will only diminish as he becomes older and next summer he will have just one year left on his contract and the prospect of losing a club-record signing for free would be embarrassing.
It is clear that the midfielder won’t work in his new boss’ system unless he is willing to dramatically change his ways and considering the way his Spurs career has gone so far, it doesn’t seem the best idea to gamble on Ndombele anymore than they already have.
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