One of the big question marks early on in the transfer window for Tottenham was whether Tanguy Ndombélé would leave the club.
Signed for €60m the previous summer back when Mauricio Pochettino was still in charge, the Frenchman struggled to adapt to the Premier League at first, and the managerial change certainly didn’t help.
A training ground disagreement with José Mourinho only made matters worse, and there was a relatively long period of time where it was believed the player could leave the club.
Inter were claimed to be interested, with talk of potential swap deals being thrown around, but it was made clear from the start that Daniel Levy wasn’t keen on selling his record signing so soon after his arrival.
This has been confirmed by the player himself when he spoke to Canal Plus, relayed by L’Equipe, where he was asked about his adaptation to his new environment in London.
He said: “I didn’t play a lot. It wasn’t easy to live with, but it’s a good reality check. A lot of things happened very quickly at the start of my career. The main thing is to get back up”.
Then came the question about the offer made by Inter, and Ndombélé revealed he ‘considered’ leaving, but Daniel Levy ‘told him he wanted to keep him’.
As for his relationship with Mourinho, the player admits he might have been at fault, but things are since considerably better.
He said: “I had to do more. I can understand him because when you see me, I’m a bit nonchalant, so when I’m not playing, I think it has to be worse. I’ve managed to show him I’m more motivated, that’s what matters.
“It’s going rather well with the manager this season, we’ve each put our ego to one side. There are things I didn’t agree with him on, just like he didn’t on some things with me. I made mistakes, but now it’s going well. We’ve put it behind us, and we try and move on”.
