Ligue 1 is often a starting point for many young players who then go on to thrive abroad, but it is also a league in which many players have revived their careers. Tanguy Ndombélé is the latest player to do so.
Ndombele, over the course of José Mourinho’s two seasons at Tottenham, featured 57 times in all competitions, but the Portuguese manager could never consistently extract the level of performance that convinced Tottenham to make the Lyon playmaker their record signing back in 2019.
A series of loan spells – first back to Lyon, where he initially burst onto the scene, then to Napoli and finally to Galatasaray – failed to get Ndombele’s career back on track. With one year remaining on his contract, Spurs and Ndombele concluded that the €62m signing was never going to work and both sides cut their losses, agreeing a mutual contract termination.
“Abroad was hard,” said Ndombele as he made his return to France, joining Nice on a free transfer. “I wanted to come back to France, where I feel more at ease, and I am also at a stage in my career where I want to play more,” he added.
Haise’s man management getting best out of Ndombélé
And despite a couple of minor injuries, Ndombélé, who forged his reputation in Ligue 1 with Lyon, is now re-building it at Nice. He is not merely starting games, but dictating them too, as he did in Nice’s historic 8-0 victory over Saint-Étienne, but beyond the promising statistics, which suggest that Ndombélé’s best days may yet be ahead of him, there is that flair, which over the course of his demoralising spell at Tottenham fizzled away, is returning. “Little by little, we are re-discovering the player that we knew a few years ago,” said sporting director Florian Maurice, whilst Franck Haise has also noted that the Frenchman is a player playing with confidence once more.
The Tottenham page finally turned, Haise is extracting the best out of Ndombélé and seemingly in an environment more conducive to him flourishing. “There isn’t anything magic,” says Haise. “I don’t have a wand. It’s just about creating a relationship.” It is now up to Ndombélé, who has already contended with a hip injury and a muscular injury this season, to keep fit and continue being effective in this midfield, within which he has already become so vital. Without him, Nice’s attack is blunted and so his performance – and by extension his fitness – have become entwined with collective success for Le Gym.
GFFN | Luke Entwistle
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