Geoffrey Kondogbia had been linked with a move to Leeds United this past summer (Getty Images)
This year has seen the power figures at Premier League clubs given an unprecedented amount of time to scout for new talent ahead of the next full season. Under such unique circumstances, the rumour mill has naturally started up well ahead of time, and it wasting not a moment in making fans dread and dream in equal measure.
With Tottenham enduring an injury crisis in recent months, form has declined, leading to their elimination from the Champions League in humiliating fashion.
One rumour which refuses to fade away is the potential arrival of holding midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia at Tottenham, though his current club Valencia will undoubtedly put up the fight of a lifetime to keep him there. His physical strength, and contributions to the dynamics of play in either box are the most obvious positives around the French-born Central African Republic international.
Such a trait has often been vital in Valencia’s recent victories. A majority (six) of the 11 wins Valencia attained between August 2019 and March 2020 saw them shut out the opposition, while seven of those 11 victories came by single-goal margin. Valencia have also gone unbeaten at home in the league since the start of May 2019, with five of the seven home league wins attained in that timescale seeing a single-goal margin and/or a clean sheet.
When he has shown his ability going forward, the results are invariably pleasing, with Kondogbia winning a majority of his prior goalscoring games across all leagues and losing none:
Tottenham, meanwhile, have enjoyed little in the way of defensive composure over the past year, and overall, their form since losing the 2019 Champions League final last June has been disappointing.
That is certainly the case compared to the standards set by Mauricio Pochettino’s five-year reign as manager, leading to their Premier League futures betting price lengthening accordingly. Damningly, Tottenham have won in the league with a clean sheet just once, with current manager Jose Mourinho’s desire to reinforce the defensive midfield area through tactical ingenuity alone yielding mixed results.
Other than the obvious, alternative possible reasons for the move have varied in credibility and popularity. However, one reason that has also figured prominently is the poor form of midfielder Tanguy Ndombele over the past year, and how that may hasten the quest for a replacement like Kondogbia in North London.
Tottenham is a club that hasn’t been able to spend the type of transfer fees as some of their closest rivals. When they decided to go against that, and spend around £55m on Tanguy Ndombele in the summer of 2019, a lot was going to be expected from the Frenchman. Yet, there has been real displeasure about how his career has unfolded in London, with a lack of mobility and game-reading.
In the week prior to Kondogbia’s strongest link to Spurs yet, Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho made the scathing remark that he could not “keep giving Ndombele opportunities”. Meanwhile, Sky pundit Jamie Carragher used his license to more freely express his opinions, backing up Mourinho’s comments in no uncertain terms. The former Liverpool defender stated: “He either can’t run or he doesn’t want to run”. Sourced from Talksport, selected highlights of his full tirade are shown below:
The numbers fully justify those sentiments, and the 1-1 draw against Burnley on 7 March (Ndombele’s last league match to date) represented his worst game for Spurs by far. He was substituted at half-time having made precisely zero sprints in the first half. He also received only two passes from Spurs’ centre backs, showing his apathy in making himself available.
Thus far, over the course of his Spurs career, Ndombele has averaged 0.7 interceptions per game. When compared to the homegrown Harry Winks (with 1.0 per-game), that is thoroughly depressing for those who believed he was the real deal. His average tally of passes per game (30.4) also pales against that of teammate Winks (54.8).
Despite goalkeeper Hugo Lloris being considered just as much of a necessary departure as Ndombele, there seems to be no question as to who is the biggest square peg in the dressing room.
The frustrating part is what Ndombele undoubtedly can do when he’s on the ball. Ndombele is very tidy in possession with an impressive passing accuracy of 85.6%, and his dribbling skills are reflected by an average of 2.0 dribbles per-game, compared to someone like Winks, or Chelsea midfielder Jorginho, who have 0.5 and 0.6 respectively.
Ultimately though, nobody can ever be a world-class player on talent alone, and that message has yet to be received by Ndombele. His Spurs career isn’t over by any means just yet, but unless his attitude changes drastically, his Premier League days are short. The different nature of La Liga, with the tradition for focusing on ball control and constructive ball retention, may even see him tempted to enter a swap deal situation with Kondogbia, if – as is looking increasingly likely – it suits all parties concerned.
