Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Tanguy Ndombele has been called out by Jose Mourinho for his injury problems this season.
Darren Bent has suggested that Jose Mourinho might not be a fan of Tanguy Ndombele, as he stated that he is ‘not even sure’ whether the Tottenham manager ‘fancies him’ to play the defensive role in the middle of the park.
Tottenham’s woes continued over the weekend as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Championship side Middlesbrough in the FA Cup.
Whilst Ndombele wasn’t part of the matchday squad for Tottenham’s trip to the Riverside, he did feature, and was then substituted after 25 minutes because of an injury, during his side’s 1-0 defeat to Southampton last time out in the Premier League.
Speaking to Drive on TalkSport (06/01/20 at 4:15 pm), Bent suggested that Mourinho needs to start from ‘back to front’ in addressing his squad during this transfer window, as he raised questions about Ndombele.
“Spurs in this window they need to address [their problems],” Bent told TalkSport. “But I think, first and foremost, he needs to start back to front. They need to find some kind of legs at the back.
“A defensive midfield player. A big powerful presence because we thought Ndombele was going to be the guy that was going to take that mantle of being the holding midfielder that can do a little bit. But he has had injuries and has been in and out. And I am not even sure Mourinho really fancies him.”
Ndombele joined Tottenham in the summer for a fee of £54 million when Mauricio Pochettino [BBC Sport] was in charge of the club, as the Frenchman has produced a number of indifferent performances.
Given that he is not Mourinho’s signing, it doesn’t help Ndombele’s cause if he continues to stagnate in North London during the second half of this campaign.
Spurs have a number of big months ahead of them, with trophies up for grabs and the race for the Champions League places set to go to the wire.
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