Tanguy Ndombele is reportedly heading to the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur while Adrien Rabiot has swapped PSG for Juventus.
There are certainly similarities between Adrien Rabiot and Tanguy Ndombele.
They are both French internationals and dynamic, forceful midfielders who combine an outstanding technical ability with serious physical gifts. In short, they are two of the most talented and promising young midfielders on the planet, who happen to have made their name across the Channel in Ligue 1.
And, just for good measure, Rabiot and Ndombele have both spent the last few months being linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur. But as we enter the business end of the transfer window, any lingering hopes Spurs had of signing Rabiot (Calciomercato) are over.
The PSG starlet has instead completed his protracted move to Juventus.
But no matter. In Ndombele, who looks set to become Tottenham’s record-breaking £65 million marquee summer signing according to Sky Sports, Mauricio Pochettino is getting his mitts on a midfielder with just as much ability but, crucially, without the same heavy baggage.
Ndombele may be only 22 but he appears to be a mature player on and off the pitch; a keen and committed learner who Pochettino will relish working with.
Rabiot, meanwhile, courts controversy at such a pace that his footballing ability is often overlooked. If it’s not his meddling mother Veronique Rabiot sticking her oar in when it really isn’t needed, the player himself is often stirring the pot – whether by announcing his desire to leave PSG every few months or by refusing to be part of the standby list for France’s victorious World Cup squad.
It is telling that, while Ndombele will leave Lyon with the blessing of Lyon’s fans, coaches and players, Rabiot has been shunted out the back door having been omitted by PSG since December due to an unseemly contract dispute.
That is where the similarities end.
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