Speaking recently on the Football Writers Podcast, Darren Lewis discussed the revival of Tanguy Ndombele at Tottenham Hotspur.
Having moved to Spurs from Olympique Lyon in what was a £54 million deal in the summer of 2019, Ndombele somewhat struggled at Tottenham following the appointment of Jose Mourinho as manager last November.
After the 57-year-old took over, Ndombele featured just 11 times for Spurs in their 2019/20 Premier League campaign, with only five of these 11 appearances coming as starts.
However, this season has been a different story for the £36 million-rated 23-year-old, as Ndombele has featured in all nine of the club’s Premier League fixtures thus far, scoring one goal and providing one assist along the way.
The France international was one topic of conversation on a recent episode of the Football Writers Podcast, in which Lewis praised the midfielder, as well as Mourinho and Daniel Levy, for his apparent revival in north London.
He said: “I can tell you that the player wanted to leave, and I think it would have reflected badly on Mourinho had he left, had he been somebody who didn’t want to work with a manager with a reputation – unjustly in some cases; some people would say it’s deserved.
“But, it would not have looked good for Mourinho had he said, ‘Look, I want out. I want to go and work with someone else. I can’t work for this guy’. Mourinho has managed him, he has got into his head. He’s convinced him of the way in which he can improve as an individual, as a player, as a leader in the team.
“One of the things both Mourinho and Levy did with him is they told him the story of [Luka] Modric. When Modric went to Real Madrid, in his first year, he was voted the worst signing at the club by what is a brutal media in Spain. Modric since, well, we all know what’s happened with the four Champions League titles and the esteem in which he’s now held, not just in Spain, but all over the world.
“And I think if you look at Ndombele, he’s slowly coming back. He’s got a way to go, of course, but he’s slowly coming back to the guy that made our eyes pop out, to a certain extent, when he played in the Champions League for Lyon. I think he’s going to go on to become a key player in the Tottenham side.”
Have you seen an improvement in Ndombele this season?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts on Darren Lewis’ comments regarding Tanguy Ndombele…
From Lewis’ comments, it is clear that the journalist is of the belief that Ndombele is very much on the right path at Spurs, and credits both Mourinho and Levy with providing the midfielder with the motivation he needed to turn his game around.
However, when you actually compare Ndombele’s stats from this season to that of last season, they are actually very similar.
Last term, the midfielder made an average of 1.1 tackles, 0.7 interceptions and 0.6 key passes per game, while taking on average 0.4 shots and making 1.8 dribbles and 30.1 passes per game, all of which culminated in an average WhoScored match rating of 6.71 over his 21 Premier League appearances.
This season, Ndombele has made an average of 0.9 tackles, 0.4 interceptions and 0.8 key passes per game, while also taking an average of 0.4 shots and making 1.3 dribbles and 31.2 passes per game, averaging a WhoScored match rating of 6.70 over his nine Premier League appearances.
As such, while Lewis is of the belief that Ndomeble appears to be getting back to his old self, from the midfielder’s metrics, he has not actually improved that much, if at all.