Director criticises Tottenham player after his display on loan this week

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Tottenham Hotspur sent Tanguy Ndombele on loan to Napoli at the start of the season, and the Frenchman has had an up-and-down campaign.

Spurs signed the 26-year-old from Olympique Lyon for a club-record £63 million back in 2019 (Sky Sports). There was a lot of excitement around Ndombele at the time, but the Frenchman just didn’t live up to the hype.

Tottenham sent him out on loan to Lyon in the second half of last season, and he has spent this campaign in Italy with Napoli, who are flying in the Serie A at the moment.

Tottenham loanee Tanguy Ndombele criticised after poor Champions League display

Since joining Napoli last summer, Tanguy Ndombele has played 28 games in all competitions for the Partenopei. However, only nine of those appearances have come from the start.

Napoli took on Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League earlier this week. Goals from Victor Osimhen and Giovanni Di Lorenzo sealed the game for the Italians, but they did lose their tempo late in the game.

Italian sporting director Francesco Montervino, who played and captained Napoli in the past, pointed the finger at Ndombele – even though the Tottenham man was only on the pitch for about 10 minutes.

He claimed that he just did not like the 26-year-old’s performance against Frankfurt.

Montervino said, as quoted by Tutto Napoli and SportWitness: “Ndombele? Against Eintracht, I didn’t like him very much.

“It seems to me, as they say in Naples, that he came in without genius. If he has desire, he doesn’t need to be introduced, he’s strong, but with Eintracht, he seemed not to be present.

“He needs to have the right motivation.”

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It really is a shame to see Ndombele not fulfil the massive potential he showed a few years ago.

The Frenchman is a hugely talented player, there’s just no doubt about that, but it feels like his confidence has been shot and he just can’t seem to find any sort of consistency at the moment.

Napoli have an option to buy Ndombele on a permanent deal in the summer, but if he fails to impress on big stages like the one this week, why will they agree to sign him on a permanent deal?

Ndombele could easily find himself back at Tottenham, and if Antonio Conte remains at the helm, he won’t play a game there.