TANGUY NDOMBELE- THE POWER HOUSE
Tanguy Ndombele Alvaro, a player once described as "overweight" in the early stages of his career has now completed a move to Tottenham Hotspur for a club record €60m. Tanguy was born in France to Congolese parents, he started honing his football skills at Fc Epinay Athletico. At age 14, he moved to Brittany in order to play for Guingamp. He later moved to SC Amiens and trialled at Auxerre, Caen and Angers but was not signed due to concerns over his weight, despite already being considered as a good playmaker. Ndombele finally became a regular at Amiens during the 2015/2016 season, going on to take part in 18 matches. Ndombele moved to Lyon on 31st August 2017 on an initial one year loan which cost Lyon €2m, Lyon took up the option of signing him permanently for €8m.
During the 2018/2019 ligue 1 season, Ndombele attempted 88 dribbles and was successful in 64 of them while supplying 47 Key passes. Spurs are getting a playmaker who has produced phenomenal performances against Barcelona, Manchester city in the Champions league and Paris st germain in ligue 1. Against Guardiola’s city, Tanguy used his long limbs to intercept and repeatedly forced mistakes from city’s high press winning 2 tackles and 5/6duels. Against Barcelona, Ndombele showed his qualities once again, putting in a superb shift in midfield alongside Houssem Aouar in a two man pivot. Ndombele had the second-most passes of any player on the pitch and registered more successful dribbles than the entire Barcelona side combined.
Bruno Genesio was in awe of Ndombele last season saying, ''He’s thoughtful and intelligent with the ball, to make the best use of it, he takes in information before anyone else to make the right choice. Without the ball, he brings balance to the team. When Nabil Fekir is out of position, he’s there providing balance alongside our defensive midfielder Lucas Tousart.He's interesting because he’s one of those players capable of solving tactical problems with his game intelligence''.
The transfer represents a massive bargain in today's market. Tottenham have signed the best midfielder on the market. Adrien Rabiot and Aaron Ramsey who both sealed free transfers to Juventus are very good midfielders but Tanguy offers a lot more. While it comes as a surprise that Daniel Levy was willing to pay that much to get his man,Sir Alex Ferguson once described dealing with Daniel Levy as being more painful than his hip replacement. It is a testament to the player's brilliance. Ndombele's transfer is reminiscence of Liverpool's transfer after losing the 2018 champions league final to Realmadrid. They immediately signed Allison and Fabinho who were both instrumental to their 2018/2019 success. Spurs have delayed replacing former midfield Stalwart, but in Tanguy Ndombele, they have signed a playmaker who arguably offers more and at 22, definitely has years ahead of him. Towards the end of last season, Mauricio pochettino spoke about moving to the next phase of the Tottenham project. After opening a new stadium, the signing of the power house might just kickstart the next phase for this Tottenham Hotspur team.
