Daniel Levy will continue to regret £63million Tottenham mistake as Tanguy Ndombele struggles on-loan in Turkey
Tottenham loanee Tanguy Ndombele could be remembered as Daniel Levy’s biggest waste of money, and his recent performances in Turkey aren’t doing much to change that narrative.
Levy must regret his decision to sanction the signing of midfielder Ndombele every single day.
Spurs’ move to sign the Frenchman for £63million from Ligue 1 outfit Lyon (Sky Sports News, 2 July 2019) will go down in hindsight as one of the worst signings in the club’s history, and perhaps even Premier League history.
Since moving to North London almost five years ago, the 27-year-old has featured just 91 times for Spurs, scoring 10 goals and providing nine assists in that time. He has been sent out on loan on three separate occasions, with the club unable to permanently offload the player.
Many hoped that perhaps the arrival of Ange Postecoglou would inspire one last opportunity for Ndombele to finally fulfil his potential at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
However, those hopes were dashed pretty swiftly when it was announced that he had joined Turkish giants Galatasaray on loan for the remainder of the 2023/24 campaign (Tottenham Hotspur Official Website, 4 September 2023).
A player with undoubted talent, Ndomeble just hasn’t been able to match that talent with the hard work required to succeed in the Premier League and his time playing in the Turkish Süper Lig is unlikely to have attracted a lengthy queue of potential suitors for the player to choose from in the summer.
With that side, his most recent outing for Galatasaray was perhaps his most impressive yet, as he contributed to his first goal for the club at the 17th time of asking, assisting Kerem Aktürkoğlu’s strike in a 5-1 win away at Trabzonspor (21 January).
However, the rest of his cameo display proves there is very little to suggest Ndombele has any future at Spurs, or in England for that matter. As per Sofascore, the former France international completed just 75 per cent of his passes, failed to provide an accurate long ball forward from his two attempts and was unsuccessful with both his attempted dribbles.
In addition, he contributed almost nothing defensively, as he won zero per cent of his duels and was dribbled past once, with a sole clearance his only noteworthy defensive action.
The midfielder has started just five times since he arrived at Galatasaray, and his performances would have done very little to prove that he is worthy of what would be more of a fourth or fifth chance at Hotspur Way, rather than a second.
After all the millions lost on Ndombele both on wages and the transfer fee, Levy will surely be keen to get the midfielder off of his books and out of his mind as soon as possible.
In other Tottenham news, another loanee has proved he has no future at the club after his 63 per cent display over the weekend.
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