Tanguy Ndombele is reportedly set to return to Tottenham this summer despite Napoli having an agreement to sign the midfielder on a permanent deal at the end of his loan spell.
According to Il Mattino, the Serie A leaders are currently leaning towards signing Mahmoud Dahoud as a free agent in the summer rather than splashing as much as £20m to make Ndombele’s loan deal permanent in the transfer window, with Napoli set to allow the Frenchman to return to Tottenham.
As per the report, Luciano Spalletti has been impressed with what he has seen from the 26-year-old this season, though with Ndombele not a regular for the Italian coach and Napoli keen to find a cheap midfield signing in the window, another move back to Tottenham is in the pipeline.
Ndombele is a player Antonio Conte has been trying to offload for some time, with the Italian loaning out the midfielder to Olympique Lyonnais last season in a deal that also saw a top European club reject the chance to activate an option to make the transfer permanent.
With Napoli seemingly making Dahoud one of their main targets for the summer ahead of the midfielder’s exit from Borussia Dortmund as a free agent, it makes sense why Ndombele will now be allowed to return to Tottenham, where the north London side will likely look to sell the Frenchman at any price.
Indeed, Ndombele has been one of the biggest flops in the Premier League in recent years having joined Tottenham in 2019 for a club-record £63m, and with Napoli set to pass up on the option to sign the midfielder for nearly a third of this original fee, Spurs could be looking for any sort of permanent deal in the summer.
Ndombele returning to Tottenham could result in a flash sale from club
Tottenham have made a string of poor signings over the years, yet few will hold a candle to how bad Ndombele has been in the long haul, with Spurs now set to sell the midfielder at the first possible opportunity in the summer transfer window.
With Napoli passing up on the option to sign Ndombele, there’s a good chance that Tottenham will accept whatever offer arrives on Daniel Levy’s desk the fastest, and given the midfielder’s current value, there’s a strong likelihood that the Frenchman will leave north London at a bargain rate.
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