Spurs have announced their third signing of the summer, signing Tanguy Ndombele from Lyon for a club record €60 million. The French central midfielder has signed a 6 year deal and was Pochettino’s main target this summer.
The 22 year old has been likened to N’Golo Kante and looks to fill the void left my Mousa Dembele who left in January 2019. Last week Pochettino was quoted saying that; “It is imperative that this year we strengthen the team” and Spurs have done just that.
Player History
Ndombele started his career at Guingamp when he was just 14, however after 3 years he was not offered a professional contract and subsequently joined SC Amiens in French Ligue 2. During the 2014/15 he played once for the Amiens reserve team, however he featured on 22 occasions during the 2015/16 season, scoring a single goal.
During the 2016/17 season, Ndombele managed to become a more regular starter with Amiens featuring 31 times throughout the season, scoring 2 goals and creating 7 assists.
In August 2017, Lyon snapped up the French youngster on a 1 year loan deal with the option of a permanent deal. During the course of the season, Ndombele helped Lyon finish third after playing 32 times in the league. Lyon signed the Frenchman on a permanent basis and went on to make 33 appearances in the league during the 2018/19 season scoring 1 goal and providing 7 assists.
Internationally Ndombele has played 10 times for the French under-21’s, whilst in October 2018 he made his senior international debut and now has 6 caps for the French senor squad.
Fantasy Football Potential
Spurs have brought Ndombele in as their record signing, surpassing the £42 million that was paid for Davidson Sanchez. The main benefit that Ndombele will provide is that he should tighten up their defence, protecting the back line, with the Frenchman being a replacement for Dembele. The signing may also allow the likes for Dele Alli, Lucas Mours and Christian Eriksen to become more attacking, increasing their FPL appeal.
From a fantasy football perspective, it does appear that Ndombele has been brought in to replace Dembele and thus become more defensive than what a fantasy manager would like. Here’s how Ndombele compares to the current top 3 owned Spurs midfielders:
| Player | Ndombele | Moura | Eriksen | Alli |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minutes played | 2692 | 2115 | 2770 | 1822 |
| Goals scored | 1 | 10 | 8 | 5 |
| Assists | 7 | 2 | 12 | 4 |
| Mins per attacking return | 337 | 176 | 139 | 202 |
Based on last season’s performance it is clear that there could be better attacking FPL returns and fantasy points by selecting any of the other 3 players, especially with Eriksen coming top in 3 of the 4 attacking stats highlighted. That said, what Ndombele may bring is a better chance of clean sheets, which may entice fantasy managers to invest in the defence with a maximum price of £5.5m.
Spurs’ opening 5 fixtures are somewhat of a mixed bag including; Aston Villa (H), Manchester City (A), Newcastle (H), Arsenal (A) and Crystal Palace (H). So after a brilliant opening fixture, it does get tougher for Tottenham, so investing in an unproven Premier League player such as Ndombele may be unwise until fixtures improve around gameweek 5.
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[…] served as the perfect reward to the relentless work Mauricio has done in the last 5 years. With Ndombele he gets the ideal Dembele replacement and one of the most wanted young midfield talents, and with […]