If there’s one way to describe Tanguy Ndombélé’s loan to Napoli so far, it’s that it’s been a mixed bag.
The Frenchman, who was very much out of favour under Antonio Conte in London, was sent to Italy on a loan with an option to buy that Spurs will be hoping the Serie A side trigger come the end of the season.
For that to happen, however, Ndombélé needs to play both regularly and well, which hasn’t consistently been the case when trying to tick both boxes.
He was given a chance on Sunday as Napoli faced AS Roma in an important clash, starting the game but never really managing to impact it in the way he will have wanted to.
We say this because Gazzetta dello Sport have voted him ‘the worst’ in Napoli’s team on Monday when reviewing the game, giving him a 5.5/10.
The reason for that is that he ‘lost a ball against [Mady] Camara at the start, leading to the dangerous AS Roma counterattack’, before adding he overall simply ‘lost the battle with the Guinean’ before eventually being substituted.
Corriere dello Sport, however, don’t criticise him as much, handing their worst rating to Mathías Olivera, and giving the Tottenham loanee a 6/10.
They explain that he ‘ended up becoming the defensive reference’ in the midfield, with Luciano Spalletti’s decision to go with two players there requiring his physical attributes.
Beyond that, he came off because he ended up ‘taking on a fatigue that would even demolish even a man in one piece’, hinting that he still isn’t up to maximum fitness, but still giving his all when called upon.
There’s still plenty of time left in the season for Ndombélé to impress, but despite a mixed performance against Roma, Tottenham will take some solace in the fact Spalletti is beginning to trust him enough to start him in an important game against a team like Roma.
