Ndombele sale could save 19-year-old’s Tottenham career

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Tanguy Ndombele is being linked with an early move away from Tottenham Hotspur.

It could be an early example of Silly Season but Tottenham Hotspur’s record signing is already being linked with a move away from North London.

Tanguy Ndombele joined Spurs in a £63 million deal from Lyon last summer but it’s been a dismal first season for the powerful French midfielder.

When he isn’t injured, Ndombele has been struggling for form in a major way for Tottenham – both under Mauricio Pochettino and Jose Mourinho.

For whatever reason, the big man hasn’t settled and Barcelona are said to be interested in signing him [The Mirror].

It might not and probably won’t happen, but if it does then there’s one player who might benefit from his departure.

Oliver Skipp broke into the senior squad at Tottenham a couple of years back but he hasn’t been a mainstay under Pochettino or Mourinho. We’re in March and he has only managed 56 minutes of Premier League football this season.

However, he did play 45 minutes at Burnley earlier this month and there had been slow but steady signs that he was becoming more trusted by the Portuguese head coach as time went on, having also played the full 120 minutes in the FA Cup defeat by Norwich City.

Skipp is clearly nowhere near Ndombele’s level, but he’s still only 19 and there’s no doubt that the France international’s presence at the Lilywhites has stifled the teenager’s progress. Simply put, if Ndombele wasn’t there, Skipp might’ve played a bit more than he has done.

The club’s academy product can play defensive midfield and central midfield, so the departure of Victor Wanyama has arguably also propelled him a little higher in the pecking order.

Skipp, labelled Tottenham’s next big thing in 2017 by The Guardian, needs some luck in order to have a long-term future at the club, but Wanyama’s exit is one example of something going his way and Ndombele leaving might be another.

Mourinho will almost certainly sign a replacement for the former Lyon star if he does join, say, Barcelona, but in the mean time Skipp will be promoted by default again and what he does in that time is up to him.