Cameroon manager Hugo Broos has sent a warning to Tottenham attacker Clinton N’Jie, stating that he won’t fulfil his potential if he doesn’t work hard.
The 23-year-old forward has seemingly struggled since joining Spurs for an £8.3million fee in the summer of 2015 after impressing at French giants Lyon.
He spent the most recent season on loan at Marseille in an attempt to gain more first team football, but in 22 matches in Ligue 1 he managed a return of just four goals and one assist.
He also started just one league game for the club in their last 12 fixtures and has been left out of Cameroon’s African Cup of Nations qualifying match next month with Broos citing “poor discipline.”
“Njie Clinton is not here because of poor discipline,” said Broos, as quoted by the BBC Sport website.
“He is a good player with many qualities as we saw during the preparation games before the Africa Cup of Nations against the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe.
“But 10 days later during the first [Nations Cup] game against Burkina Faso and also Guinea Bissau he was [playing] at only 50 percent.
“He must change his attitude and put in the work required if he is to turn the qualities he possesses into success at the top level.
“Even Ronaldo or Messi are always working hard; him thinking that he’s the best doesn’t work, it doesn’t work in Marseille either.
“He is more on the bench than on the field of play. He is a player with the qualities to play in Marseilles; it is his responsibility because he is not playing.
“I said this already to him in Gabon. I hope he will understand because he is a good player.”
N’Jie is now expected to return to Tottenham this summer and he will be hoping to add to his 14 fixtures for the club.
However, Mauricio Pochettino has been known to be ruthless with his players in the transfer market and last summer he cut his losses with DeAndre Yedlin, Ryan Mason and Nacer Chadli before Nabil Bentaleb departed in a permanent deal in February.
Additionally, the club are making progress each year in the Premier League and with their next step the title then N’Jie may be surplus to requirements, especially if his attitude problems are true.