‘Great qualities’, ‘I’m happy’: Jose Mourinho very impressed with one Spurs player in training

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Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho has spoken highly of Tanguy Ndombele ahead of Spurs’ return to Premier League action on Friday, in conversation with Football London.

Ndombele arrived at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to much fanfare last summer in a club record deal, Spurs having reportedly agreed an initial fee of around £55million with Lyon, who could receive another £9million in add-ons.

The 23-year-old’s early days at Tottenham didn’t quite go to plan, with just 12 Premier League starts amid injuries and loss of form, and in Spurs’ last Premier League game before the shutdown, against Burnley, he was hauled off at half-time by Mourinho.

However, Football London reported last month that the Portuguese has been happy with Ndombele’s efforts since that game and over the three-month hiatus, something he confirmed at his pre-match press conference ahead of the Manchester United clash.

On spending time with Ndombele during the hiatus, Mourinho told the outlet: “I spent two minutes with him, trying to teach him how to use the Wifi GPS, nothing more than that.

“When he was back to the training ground, he was committed, he worked. I can see he was much more integrated in the group, in the spirit of the group.

“I think he understands more and more what we want from him. So I’m happy with his last couple of weeks where he showed us some of the great qualities that we know that he has. So yes, ready for tomorrow.”

TBR View:

Ndombele is a talented player, his exploits leading to Spurs spending a lot of money on him, and he didn’t suddenly become bad overnight – a change of club and country, the change of manager at Tottenham and the player’s injuries and loss of form will all have played their part.

Some players do hit the ground running when changing clubs and/or countries but others will take a while longer, and need a bit more man-management to really get up the gears – so it’s great to see Mourinho praise him ahead of a huge game for Spurs, and we may now see the best of him.