Tottenham Hotspur’s Georges-Kevin Nkoudou has been criticised by Mauricio Pochettino.
Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has told Football.London that he doesn’t think Georges-Kevin Nkoudou has shown enough to justify a first-team spot.
Spurs swooped to land Nkoudou from Marseille in 2016, finally landing his signature after a lengthy transfer saga, with Tottenham seemingly confident that they had landed an exciting winger for the future.
With nine goals and five assists in his only season with Marseille following a 2015 move from Nantes, Nkoudou seemed to be a smart signing for Spurs, possessing major potential – but it hasn’t worked out that way.
Nkoudou failed to make much of an impact last season, and has yet to start a game this term, with Pochettino now criticising the wide man when asked about his playing time.
Pochettino has told Football.London that Nkoudou isn’t showing enough in training to justify playing for the first team, and that Spurs are still waiting for him to show his quality – but Pochettino’s brutally honest comments may just dent a reported Tottenham transfer plan.
The London Evening Standard reported earlier this month that Tottenham want to land Watford sensation Richarlison, and part of their plan was to offer either Joshua Onomah or Nkoudou in part-exchange.
Onomah is impressing on loan with Aston Villa and appears to have a huge future ahead of him, but Pochettino’s stern criticism of Nkoudou would logically worsen his value, as it’s clear that he isn’t in the immediate plans with Spurs.
Watford are similarly unlikely to value Nkoudou highly in any swap for Richarlison, and may not want him at all having been deemed unfit for Premier League football by Pochettino – and the Spurs boss may have accidentally kiboshed Spurs’ hopes of using the French wide man in a deal to get Richarlison in 2018.
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