Tanguy Ndombele has received some criticism from Graham Roberts after the Tottenham man spoke about his situation at Spurs.
What’s the story?
Well, the France international – who is currently on loan at Napoli – told Gianluca Di Marzio that he feels like a “commodity” at Tottenham, and said there was “no choice” but to leave with Antonio Conte at the helm.
Ndombele said: “I don’t know what my future will be, many fans ask me to return to Tottenham but the clubs will decide and Napoli have an option to buy. I don’t mind being on loan here but sometimes I see footballers being treated more like commodities than people.
“There was no other solution with Tottenham and I’m happy I chose Napoli. With Conte there was no choice, I would have liked to demonstrate my value on the pitch but I was on the edge of the group. It was communicated to me from the first day of training with the team.”
After hearing the £120,000-a-week man’s interview, Roberts was not happy.
The 63-year-old wrote on Twitter: “Tanguy Ndombele talking a great game again. Why are you not playing at Napoli then? Blame Jose, blame Conte then you blame Spurs maybe look at yourself pal. You have lots of talent but you need to stop blaming everyone but yourself.”
We think the Frenchman has been unfortunate since swapping Lyon for Tottenham in 2019, as the man who signed him – Mauricio Pochettino – only got to spend 14 games with his new signing until Daniel Levy sacked the Argentine.
Having said that, we partially agree with Roberts.
Ndombele needs to take control of his Tottenham career
When each of José Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo, Antonio Conte and also Ryan Mason fail to get the best out of Ndombele, the common denominator is the 26-year-old.
Ndombele has bundles of talent – as Roberts states – although we find ourselves coming back to the famous saying: Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.
The £63m man has only started six Serie A games on loan at Napoli under Luciano Spalletti this season, so it surely can’t be everyone else’s fault that his Tottenham career hasn’t taken off.
Hopefully, whoever Levy chooses to replace Conte gives Ndombele another chance, as he is far too talented to let it all go to waste.
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