Speaking on US TV station ESPN, Don Hutchinson has been discussing Tanguy Ndombele and his current plight at Tottenham Hotspur.
The Frenchman isn’t having the best of times at Spurs. He’s struggling to get a game in north London, and when he does play, he’s not showing what he’s capable of.
Indeed, this weekend against Morecombe, Ndombele was once again poor, while his body language when he came off the pitch summed everything up.
However, despite all of this, it’s still very clear that there’s a talented player in there, but in this day and age, you need to have more than just raw talent.
What’s Hutchinson said about Ndombele?
The pundit admitted that Ndombele is talented, but he doesn’t think he’s well-suited to the modern game.
“He’s unbelievably talented, but when you’re in the Premier League you have to have more strings to your bow. You can’t just rely on your talent. You have to be hard-working,” Hutchinson said.
“He’s one of these players who 10 or 15 years ago would have been outstanding. He could have played as a number 10. Managers 10 years ago were carrying these number 10s, they allowed them to be maverick and they build teams around these number 10s, but the league has moved on. It’s too fast and it’s too quick, you have to put a shift in and he’s not that type of player.”
Death of the number 10
Hutchinson is absolutely right, you need to have more than just talent to flourish in the Premier League these days, and perhaps Ndombele was just born at the wrong time.
10 years ago, Ndombele would have been appreciated a lot more. A decade ago there was space for players like Mesut Ozil, Wesley Sneijder and Yoann Gourcuff, but now, you need to be so much more than just a creator.
Ndombele, sadly, is in the wrong place at the wrong time, and while he is a supremely talented footballer, he’s not well-suited to the rigours of modern-day Premier League football.
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