Spurs were reportedly hoping to land Kondogbia from Inter Milan last month but La Liga giants Valencia won the race instead – landing the 24-year-old on loan.
Sometimes, there is nothing more frustrating than watching Geoffrey Kondogbia amble around a pitch like he’s enjoying a Sunday morning jog. This is a midfielder who has everything, frightening power and superb technical ability, but rarely looked focused, confident or even interested during a disastrous debut season at Inter Milan.
However, just a few weeks into his loan spell at Valencia, Kondogbia is finally starting to resemble the player that Inter made their £36.5 million record signing when buying him from Monaco in the summer of 2016, as reported by Football Italia.
He is also showing the kind of form that had Tottenham Hotspur interested this summer. The Sun reported in early August that Spurs and Liverpool were on red alert when the 24-year-old informed Inter’s bosses that he had no desire to stay on the San Siro bench in a World Cup year.
And, if Mauricio Pochettino had tuned in to Valencia’s last two La Liga fixtures, he could be forgiven for wishing Spurs, rather than the La Liga giants, had managed to land Kondogbia on a season-long loan with an option to buy.
Valencia have picked up impressive draws from clashes against Madrid giants Real and Atletico in the last two La Liga weekends and Kondogbia has shone on both occasions.
He was the best player on the pitch as Marcelino’s new-look Los Che held Real to a 2-2 draw at the Bernabau last month, Kondogbia capping a superb debut performance with a well-placed strike which was eventually cancelled out by an inspired Marco Asensio free-kick.
Luka Modric and Toni Kroos were comfortably outshone by the fearsome Frenchman. And Kondogbia stood out once again as Diego Simeone’s Atletico, who thumped five past Las Palmas in the previous fixture, failed to open up Valencia’s well-drilled backline.
Spurs may have no shortage of quality midfielders but, on this kind of form, Kondogbia would improve any team in Europe.
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