Tanguy Ndombele to leave Tottenham: What Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte said about Spurs’ £55m failure

Tottenham have decided to let Tanguy Ndombele leave the club on a free transfer this summer, according to reports in France.

The 27-year-old remains the most-expensive signing in Tottenham’s history after he joined from Lyon in a €62 million (£55.4m) in the summer of 2019.

But the midfielder failed to make an impact in his first two seasons at Spurs and halfway through his third campaign he was allowed to return to Lyon on loan.

Ndombele then joined Napoli on loan last season and made 40 appearances as the club won the Serie A title.

However, Napoli opted not to make his move permanent and Ndombele was on the move once again as he was loaned out to Galatasaray last summer.

Ndombele won another league title as Galatasaray beat Fenerbahce to the Super Lig but the midfielder struggled for fitness in Turkey and started just four league games.

Ndombele was now set to report back to pre-season training with Tottenham next month, however, French outlet FootMercato report that Spurs and the midfielder have reached an ‘amicable’ agreement which will see his contract terminated.

The Frenchman had a year remaining on the initial six-year deal he signed with Spurs in 2019, which is worth £200,000 a week.

The report claims that a final agreement between Ndombele and Spurs will be reached ‘in the coming days’, which will allow him to join a new club as a free agent this summer.

Speaking about Ndombele’s struggles at Spurs, Antonio Conte said in 2021: ‘I have seen many managers struggle with his position.

‘He has the quality. He has to understand it is a team and he has to play into the team. It is important to do what the position asks you to do.

‘We are working very hard. He has to work much more than the others. He has talent but he has to put it into the team for the team, not for the single player.’

Earlier that year, Jose Mourinho also echoed Conte’s verdict on Ndombele.

‘Tanguy, I have to be honest, Tanguy is the kind of guy who you always expect more than what he gives you, because he is so talented that you always expect more,’ Mourinho told Canal Plus.

‘More because the talent is amazing. You know I think by the talent point of view, by the creation in midfield, by the vision, he is second to nobody at this moment in European football.

‘But the feeling is always that he has something more to give. He never reaches the limits of the effort, the sacrifice, even the ambition.

‘So he is the guy that I love him as a player but frustrates me a little bit because I think he can be much better, much better than what he is.

‘When I see for example France and Tanguy was not playing, I don’t blame Didier [Deschamps]. I blame Tanguy, because he’s better than the other guys.

‘He should show that every day in training and in every match.’