Spurs fans were less than impressed to hear that midfielder Tanguy Ndombele told manager Jose Mourinho that he did not want to play the Boxing Day game against Brighton, despite not being injured.
According to Football.London (via Ricky Sacks), the 22-year-old was absent for the 2-1 win after telling his Portuguese manager that he didn’t feel up to playing. Mourinho revealed this in his post-match interview, saying: “I can’t say he’s injured, I can say yesterday he told me he wasn’t feeling in condition to play the game. Not based on injuries, based on fears of previous injuries of the season. I can’t say he’s injured.”
Spurs signed Ndombele for a club-record fee (£53.8m) during the summer, but the former Lyon man is yet to really make an impact in the Premier League; making just eight starts so far this season. The French international had missed the first few games of Mourinho’s tenure at Spurs due to a minor groin injury but came off the bench in the 2-0 defeat by Chelsea last week.
Was Ndombele right to say he couldn't play against Brighton?
Yes
No
Reaction from Spurs fans to Mourinho’s comments on Ndombele can be seen in the tweets below.
Sounds like the lad has lost confidence to not aggrivate the groin injury. Dele seemed to have similar after his hamstring injury at Fulham. Hopefully games will help over time.
— Mike N (@MikeGNolan) December 26, 2019
He’s finished
— Paul Audere Est Facere (@paulyboym1) December 26, 2019
That’s not very encouraging
— Paul Farish (@ptsampo) December 26, 2019
This is an absolute disgrace from Ndombele! Bottled it in other words!
— KD (@kdeamer82) December 26, 2019
This means Spurs should not let him anywhere near the French national team anytime soon.
— Rob Kirkpatrick (@wrappedupinboox) December 26, 2019
Lets just see where this goes. Maybe he really did need a “maintenance day”. I will say it is a touch suspicious however, but its too early to give up or have anger towards him yet.
— Adam Fisher (@yofishman88) December 27, 2019
These Spurs fans were clearly not impressed by Ndombele’s decision to miss the game, but will perhaps be forgiving of the 22-year-old if it means he can play a full 90 minutes against Norwich on Saturday.
What do we think?
Ndombele’s fitness has been an issue since he arrived in the summer but strangely he has looked very good in the games he has played in the Champions League; averaging a 7.46 rating. If the £58.5 million rated man felt he needed to be rested against Brighton to avoid injury and that helps Spurs in the long-term, then fans of the North London club will surely come to appreciate his somewhat controversial decision.