Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard might fancy his chances of getting the best out of Tanguy Ndombele if the West Midlands side were to sign the Frenchman this summer.
That is according to Pete O’Rourke, who was speaking to This is Futbol about Villa’s potential transfer plans heading into the final few weeks of the window.
Ndombele joined Spurs from Lyon in July 2019 for a club-record fee, but has failed to live up to expectations in his three years at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
According to Ben Jacobs of CBS Sports, Gerrard’s side had made an enquiry to Tottenham about the possibility of signing the 25-year-old in January, but the club have since stalled after Ndombele re-joined Lyon on loan for the second half of last season.
And O’Rourke believes that Gerrard would fancy his chances of getting the best out of the Frenchman if he were to sign at Villa Park this summer.
He said: “I’m sure Steven Gerrard would fancy that he might be able to get the best out of Ndombele, because we just haven’t seen it during his time at Tottenham, with the player failing to live up to that price tag after signing from Lyon.
“But there’s obviously a talented player in there, and maybe if somebody could get that out of him, you could have a real bargain this summer.”
TIF Thoughts on O’Rourke’s comments…
We believe that Villa fans would have mixed feelings about Ndombele given his inconsistency at this level, while the seven-time France international would likely have to take a pay cut on his reported £120k-per-week deal at Spurs.
However, he has earned the praise of West Ham United captain Declan Rice, who recently hailed the Frenchman, saying (via The Spurs Web): “When we played against Lyon in the Europa League, he was incredible. He’s a top player,” which could suggest that under the right guidance, he can show his best in the Premier League.
The former Lyon man has hardly set the world alight since joining Tottenham, scoring six goals and providing five assists in 63 Premier League appearances, according to Transfermarkt.
Therefore, we believe that Antonio Conte would be quite happy to get Ndombele off the wage bill this season, and Villa could perhaps be a suitable destination to get his career back on track.