TalkSPORT pundit claims player Tottenham sold was so ‘overrated’ like Mateo Kovacic

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TalkSPORT pundit Jason Cundy has labelled former Tottenham Hotspur star Mousa Dembele ‘overrated’ and compared him to Chelsea star Mateo Kovacic.

Tottenham have struggled to replace Dembele after he left the club back in 2019.

Spurs thought they had found his replacement in Tanguy Ndombele later that year, but it’s fair to say the Frenchman hasn’t lived up to expectations.

At the peak of his powers, Demebel was arguably one of the best midfielders in the Premier League. The Belgian was part of the Spurs side that challenged for the league title twice.

But Jason Cundy has told TalkSPORT that he thinks Dembele was overrated like Chelsea’s Mateo Kovacic.

Cundy labels Dembele ‘overrated’

Cundy feels Dembele didn’t impact games in the final third often enough to be considered a top-level midfielder.

“I thought he was overrated,” he said. “A lot of people say this, but here’s the thing about him. He reminds me of Kovacic.”

“He’s better than Kovacic,” Jamie O’Hara responded.

Cundy: “He reminds me of Kovacic and I’ll tell you why – catches the eye, what did he do in the final third?”

But O’Hara refused to agree with Cundy said: “He played centre-mid. He was a holding midfielder who’d get the ball off the back four.

“I played against him. He was a lion in midfield.”

Cundy stuck to his guns though and claimed that Demeble didn’t have a big enough impact at either end of the pitch.

“I don’t care, I watched him,” he added. “He caught the eye in so many ways, but there are three things a footballer has to do to be at the very high level.

“Either you score goals, set goals up, or you stop them. What did he do?”

While Cundy has a point that Dembele didn’t impact games in the final third often enough, it’s surprising to hear him label the midfielder ‘overrated’.

If anything, Dembele was underrated by pundits and fellow professionals outside of Tottenham.

You only have to listen to players who played alongside him during Mauricio Pochettino’s time at the club, with the majority naming him as the best they’ve ever played with.