The under-performing Tanguy Ndombele arrived at Tottenham Hotspur with sky high expectations. It logically comes with the territory of being a club’s record signing; carrying a price tag of 54 million pounds. While he’s underwhelmed at White Hart Lane, his manager’s overtly calling him out for doing so doesn’t help anybody involved.
The only people who benefit from his manager, Jose Mourinho, slamming him are the media, because it gives us something to talk about. Mourinho is of course well regarded for all the trophies that he’s won during his distinguished career, but he also has reputation for sounding off, and driving news cycles in doing so. Yesterday, during a very disappointing 1-1 draw with Burnley, Mourinho subbed Ndombele off at half time.
Mourinho also subbed off the very much over-worked Oliver Skipp, and brought on Lucas Moura and Giovani Lo Celso. The result? Spurs were able to take a 1-0 deficit at the break, equalize, and rescue a point from what had been a pretty bad outing. Mourinho had no issues with singling out a scapegoat.
“In the first half we didn’t have a midfield,” said the first year Spurs boss.
“Of course I’m not speaking of Skipp because he’s a kid of 19 who’s played two hours in the last few days. I don’t criticize him at all, but I’m not going to run away and I have to say he [Ndombele] has had enough time to come to a different level.”
“I know the Premier League is difficult, and some players take a long time to adapt to a different league. But a player with his potential has to give us more than he is giving us, especially when you see how Lucas, Lo Celso and those players are playing. I was expecting more in the first half from him.”
Mourinho wasn’t done, as he also went on to say that the 23-year-old summer addition from Lyon won’t be cracking the first team any time soon.
“Many fantastic players in their first season, in a new country, for different reasons they struggle,” the Portugese continued.
“There have been many examples of that. He’s a player with great talent. He has to know he has to do much better and know I cannot keep giving him opportunities to play because the team is much more important.”
While Mourinho did speak to the potential of Ndombele, and acknowledge his talent, he still put the young player in a very tough spot here. A public call out like this can only damage his confidence and spirit, and that does nothing productive for him or the team.
Maybe there will be a fresh start for Ndombele next season, but the rest of this campaign has got to feel like wasted time for him now.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of โNo,ย I Canโt Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.ย
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