Jose Mourinho responds to Tanguy Ndombele rumours

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Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho has told Football.London that there is no truth to rumours about Tanguy Ndombele’s future.

Spurs were in action against West Ham United on Tuesday night, and claimed a 2-0 win thanks to a Tomas Soucek own goal and a Harry Kane strike.

The win boosted Tottenham’s Champions League hopes, and whilst it was a mostly positive night, some were unhappy with the situation surrounding Ndombele.

The French midfielder worked hard on his fitness and conditioning over the summer, but was an unused substitute for Friday’s game against Manchester United.

Many expected him to feature against West Ham, but once again, Ndombele didn’t even make it off the bench. Mourinho made three substitutes, but left Ndombele unused again.

Just as the game was finishing, Telefoot journalist Julien Maynard tweeted that the midfielder told Mourinho this week that he no longer wants to play for him.

Maynard continued by saying that the pair are no longer speaking to each other – something Mourinho denied strongly after the final whistle.

Mourinho simply stated that he didn’t feel he needed Ndombele last night or against United, but there is no rift between the pair as he battles with keeping his players happy.

“No,” said Mourinho. “On the bench was Tanguy, Sessegnon, Toby, Vertonghen, Gedson and they didn’t play. That’s football. For me there’s nothing. I had attacking players on the bench, Lamela and Bergwijn. Two great players to bring on and then Winks to give us more consistency. This situation of the five changes, some people maybe think that you have to use all five changes. You don’t have to do it. You have the chances to do it.”

“I felt that the team was fine. I never believed that 2-0 was a completely safe result because they were trying everything and one goal could change the state of mind and give them the motivation in the final minutes so I decided to keep the team stable and three changes was enough.

“You know, it’s not just him. I try to do the best for my team. I cannot start the game with 12 or 13 players, I try to do the best for the team. Sometimes I apologise to my players that are not my first choice because I feel their work in training deserves something more than I give but I have to do my job the best I can and I felt for these two matches I didn’t need him,” he added.