Report: Daniel Levy reluctant to sanction sale of Tottenham player Jose Mourinho’s fallen out with

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Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Tanguy Ndombele is determined to stay and fight for his place at Spurs despite his strained relationship with Jose Mourinho and interest from Barcelona, according to The Telegraph.

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.

However, the 23-year-old’s first season at Tottenham hasn’t quite gone 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, was hauled off at half-time by Mourinho.

The Portuguese publicly criticised Ndombele after the 1-1 draw, being quoted by The Mail as saying: “In the first half we didn’t have a midfield… of course I’m not speaking of Skipp… but I’m not going to run away and I have to say (Ndombele) has had enough time to come to a different level.”

Ndombele’s difficult time in north London is believed to have alerted Barcelona, who are looking to offload players in swap deals this summer, but The Telegraph has claimed that the Frenchman is insistent that he wants to prove himself at Tottenham and not leave the club as a flop.

The report adds that Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is also reluctant to sanction Ndombele’s departure after investing so heavily in him last year, irrespective of Mourinho’s complicated relationship with the midfielder.

TBR View:

Ndombele is undoubtedly a talented player, his exploits leading to Spurs spending a lot of money on him, and he’s not suddenly turned bad overnight – the change of employment 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 – Ndombele seems more like the latter, and as such it’s totally understandable were Levy reluctant to just pull the plug on the player.