Now worth £56m less: Spurs flop was worse signing than Sanchez

Davinson Sanchez is in action for Spurs.
Tottenham Hotspur were defeated in the FA Cup last month by holders Manchester City, and Ange Postecoglou’s prospects of winning silverware in his debut year at the club now rest on the Premier League.

Even the most optimistic Spurs fans would accept that winning the league championship this season may be out of reach, with table-toppers Liverpool seven points ahead of the London club and Manchester City two points behind with a game in hand.

Crucially, Postecoglou has succeeded in reviving the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and made significant improvements to a team that had fallen by the wayside previous year.

Jurgen Klopp, for example, needed four years of development before winning a title on Merseyside; Pep Guardiola needed a year to establish his identity at Manchester City.

The important component has been removing the deadwood that has dragged Spurs down like an anchor, keeping the bright coast tantalisingly out of grasp.

On that vein, it’s hardly unexpected that one of the Australian’s first stops was to bid farewell to Tanguy Ndombele, a player at the heart of Tottenham’s recent issues.

The record signing of Tanguy Ndombele
It was July 2019, and Spurs were still recovering from the previous month’s incredible journey to the Champions League final, when they were defeated by Liverpool.

It was the beginning of the end for Mauricio Pochettino, who had hoped to make significant changes to his brilliant squad, unknowing that he was entering the last months of his tenure.

tanguy-ndombele-tottenham-hotspur
Tottenham finalized the club-record £63 million transfer of midfielder Tanguy Ndombele from Lyon, despite the fact that the 22-year-old had just joined the French club in a £7 million deal the previous year.

It was an essential addition, with Lucas Moura the last player to come in north London 18 months ago. Tottenham had first-rate players like Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen, Heung-min Son, Dele Alli, Hugo Lloris, and the list goes on.

However, such players need silverware, and Ndombele was seen as the headline, trophy-winning acquisition to propel Spurs to new heights, with The Athletic’s Jack Pitt-Brooke describing him as “potentially the most complete box-to-box midfielder in the world” after signing.

To suggest Ndombele flattered to mislead would be to ridicule the term. It is very probably one of the worst pieces of company created during Daniel Levy’s leadership.

Ndombele left Tottenham last summer after 91 appearances, scoring 10 goals and assisting nine teammates.

Those aren’t particularly bad stats, but they don’t convey the whole picture of his lack of enthusiasm, effort, and consistency. Fitness concerns have dogged the Frenchman’s career, and one person close to the situation at Tottenham said that for such a “incredibly talented” player, his failure to perform the fundamentals was perplexing.

At his best – the side of the coin that Tottenham saw and was first drawn to – Ndombele is a superb No. 8 with technical brilliance, defensive power, and unstoppable progressive surges in possession. Essentially, he has the raw physical abilities to mimic a famous Premier League phenomena like as Yaya Toure.

But this inability to connect the dots proved fatal, as after joining Napoli on loan for the 2022/23 season and playing just eight times in Serie A as Luciano Spaletti’s team won the Scudetto, Postecoglou seemed to make the quick decision to transfer him out.

Given that he is currently valued at around £7 million by Football Transfers, Spurs might lose about £56 million on their investment if Gala decides to sign him permanently before the end of the season, but with just four appearances in the Turkish Super Lig so far, that does not seem probable.

So he sailed away, joining Turkish Super Lig heavyweights Galatasaray on loan with the option to purchase, partnering Colombian defender Davinson Sanchez.

Ndombele performed worse than Davinson Sanchez

Sanchez went to Turkey on a permanent £13 million transfer, and there are obvious parallels to Ndombele’s stalling Spurs career, who currently plays beside him at RAMS Park.

Similarly prospering before joining Tottenham, Sanchez was Ajax’s Player of the Year in 2016/17 and came to England for a club-record £42 million, with all the makings of a world-class centre-back for years to come.

Sanchez, dubbed “one of the worst players” in the Premier League’s recent history by pundit Jamie O’Hara, only started eight times in the top flight last season despite Tottenham’s woes – shipping 63 goals – with only the three relegated sides and newly promoted Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest yielding higher concession rates.

Sanchez, also 27, is prospering in Turkey, scoring two goals and assisting twice in 20 games, despite missing a significant chunk of the season due to injury.

He also earned his keep in his first few seasons at Tottenham – and at £42 million, he didn’t cost nearly as much – but was possibly a victim of circumstance, with injuries spread across his stay in London not helping his cause either.

It’s no surprise that Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy approved the departures of Ndombele and Sanchez last summer, while Postecoglou tried to construct his side.

Eric Dier’s winter transfer to Bayern Munich exemplifies this new incisiveness, as he rebuilds a squad that had previously functioned satisfactorily but required more than a little tweaking.

Ndombele’s purchase, which had previously held so much potential, sent shivers down the N17 as Pochettino demonstrated his desire.

It failed, and Ndombele will be used as a benchmark for Spurs’ poor transfer business for years to come, a warning that this new, wise strategy must not be abandoned, or the situation will deteriorate once again.

Read Also: Tottenham star granted access to return to squad for Brighton this weekend

Read Also: He get worse the more he plays – Tottenham man is a problem, robbing minutes from others

Read Also: Tottenham now moving swiftly to sign complete World Cup playmaker in summer

Read Also: 100% Sure – Pundit makes exciting Tottenham prediction claims