Former Tottenham Hotspur coach Cristian Stellini wonders if Tanguy Ndombele’s need to feel ‘pampered’ is a key reason behind his struggles at the Premier League giants.
Yes, the former Lyon star returns to North London with a Serie A winners’ medal hanging around his neck. But if Victor Osimhen, Kim Min-Jae and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia were the leading men in Napoli’s Scudetto story, then Tanguy Ndombele was a member of the supporting cast at best, an background extra at worst.
The France international made 30 Serie A appearances but only eight of those came from the start.
And his hopes of a career revival now rest upon the whims of new Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou. A coach who is likely to appreciate his mercurial, creative talents, but also one who is unlikely bend to the whims of a player who has left successive Spurs boss’s frustrated and bewildered.
Tottenham face Tanguy Ndombele decision
“He is a pure talent,” Stellini, who assisted Antonio Conte in North London, tells One Station Radio. “On a technical level, and in terms of explosive strength, he is a pure talent.
“Perhaps, he needs to feel pampered too much. He will have to mature in terms of character.
“Left to himself, he tends to get lost. By now, he is 25-years-old (sic, 26). He is no longer young, and it is necessary to take a certain type of path.”
Napoli unsurprisingly opted against triggering the purchase clause in Ndombele’s contract.
The success of Tom Rogic – a similarly mercurial talent – at Celtic should give the £54 million signing hope that there is still a place for him at Spurs. Then again, he arguably finds himself further down the pecking order now than he did only a couple of weeks ago, Tottenham finally bringing an end to their almost decade-long pursuit of James Maddison by snapping up the former Leicester City talsiman for a ‘bargain’ £40 million.
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