Needing to find a new club in January to get some minutes, Tanguy Ndombélé left Tottenham and returned to Lyon on loan until the end of the season.
Signed for the next six months with an option to buy at €65m, it seems highly unlikely that the France International will be remaining in France beyond the current deal, unless, as has been reported elsewhere, the Ligue 1 side manage to convince Spurs to simply extend the loan.
It’s something Lyon are reportedly interested in, but some are wondering whether keeping the Tottenham loanee in the long run is a good idea, as his performances haven’t entirely been up to scratch for a player of his supposed quality.
One of those is French journalist Walid Acherchour, who vented about the Spurs man’s performances over the past few weeks following the 1-1 draw against Porto in the Europa League.
He said, relayed by Foot Radio: “If there’s a player who I have to blame after this game, it’s especially Tanguy Ndombélé. He arrived, it was labelled as his big return, a whimsical player… I like him a lot, he’s an exceptional player who has the ability to get away from pressing, a good vision of the game, who can project himself forward and can find key passes. However, this evening, I again saw him in immense difficulty, and not for the first time.
“In the current sequence, if you look closely, he also struggled against Lens. He wasn’t there against Lorient, as Aouar played in midfield, and I think that was one of Lyon’s best games since the one against Nice, where Ndombélé had a good game for once. He struggled against Rennes, so it’s true that, going forward, we’ll have to see if this double pivot with Caqueret is viable in the long run.”
That’s not really what Tottenham fans who want rid of Ndombélé will want to here, and perhaps not what Antonio Conte will be hoping for either.
The Italian seemingly fell out with the Spurs midfielder soon after his arrival at the club, which was partly why he didn’t play and needed to find the move to Lyon in the first place.
