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News
‘If he doesn’t fancy the player he’s got to sell’: Jose Mourinho warned Spurs man could risk him the sack
Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho has “got to sell” Tanguy Ndombele if he doesn’t rate the Spurs midfielder, Andros Townsend has told talkSPORT.
Ndombele arrived at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to much fanfare last summer in a club record deal.
Spurs agreed an initial fee of around £55million with Lyon, who could receive another £9million in add-ons.
However, last season proved difficult for Ndombele, who was in and out of the Tottenham starting XI and for the last three games of the Premier League season.
The 23-year-old is now being linked with a departure from North London, with the reporting that Mourinho is keen to sell the player if a buyer can be found.
The outlet goes on to claim that the Spurs boss does not believe Ndombele has adapted to the demands of the Premier League and has doubts over his willingness to learn.
With Ndombele’s future in doubt, Townsend warned that situations such as this could turn on the manager and he could end up getting the sack if he doesn’t deal with it properly.
“I remember when Ndombele first joined Spurs and all the players were raving about him and about how good he is,” Townsend told talkSPORT (2/9/20, 7:30am).
“But managers prefer different systems and different players. For one reason, or another, Jose Mourinho’s just not interested in that type of player.
“I have seen it before where the manager has publicly come out and criticised the player. If you keep that player in your squad after criticising him and it keeps festering.
“He maybe speaks to his agent saying ‘I need to leave’. He speaks to the chairman saying ‘You spent all this money on me, I need to be playing’.
“It can end up on the player turning the chairman against the manager and maybe, in the end, getting the manager the sack.
“For Jose Mourinho, if he doesn’t fancy the player he has got to sell him for his own good.”
TBR View:
Ndombele is undoubtedly a talented player, his efforts at Lyon leading to Spurs spending a lot of money on him.
He’s not suddenly turned bad overnight – a change of employment and country, the change of manager at Tottenham and the player’s injuries and loss of form will all have played their part.
That said, if Mourinho definitely sees him as surplus to requirements, then as Townsend says, it’s best for him to be sold right away.
However, Spurs end up with egg on their face either way – selling a record signing just a year after buying him doesn’t look good, but keeping him could also cause problems further down the line.