Has Leicester’s Wilfred Ndidi shown he is the answer for Tottenham?

Follow us on Google Discover

Spurs wanted to bring Wilfred Ndidi to the Premier League for £8m in 2016 but the Leicester City star would cost far more than that these days.

Mousa Dembele’s Tottenham Hotspur contract expires in 2019 and it seems that finding a replacement is top of Mauricio Pochettino’s list of priorities.

As reported by Sky Sports, he was keen to sign Geoffrey Kondogbia before it emerged that Valencia had the exclusive option to sign him permanently at the end of his loan spell at Inter Milan.

And the Daily Mail claimed this week that Pochettino was in Vicarage Road crowd to watch Abdoulaye Doucoure inspire Watford’s 4-1 battering of Chelsea on Monday night. The Frenchman, valued at around £20 million, was arguably the best player on the pitch as he powered The Hornets to arguably their greatest Premier League result.

But maybe a player Spurs were looking at 18 months ago should be back in Pochettino’s thoughts. The Chronicle stated in November 2016 that Tottenham were a firm admirer of the rising Genk star Wilfred Ndidi.

The young powerhouse was one of the most highly-rated youngsters in Belgian football and, just two months after Spurs were linked with an £8 million move, he signed for Leicester City for almost double that fee.

And his first year in English football has been impressive to say the least. Ndidi has started each of Leicester’s 26 league games this season, producing a series of quietly efficient performances in homage to Foxes legend N’Golo Kante.

He is not just a ball-winner, however. Ndidi is a rangy and technically gifted midfielder, a good passer blessed with a thunderbolt strike. The similarities to Dembele are unavoidable.

So while Pochettino plans a bid for Doucoure, maybe he should be enquiring about Ndidi, too.