Tottenham Hotspur have a vitally important matchup with Wolverhampton Wanderers this weekend in the battle for Champions League football and one of the players in contention for a starting place is Tanguy Ndombele. The summer signing from Lyon has played 90 minutes under Jose Mourinho just once, and the Spurs boss publicly questioned his attitude towards fitness by saying: “He’s always injured.”
But after those remarks, it appears the Portuguese boss has been keeping a watchful eye over Ndombele, devising what he describes as a “global training plan”. It is intended to improve his all-round fitness, diet and nutrition but the move suggests Mourinho has learned from his previous run in’s with players.
He also gave Luke Shaw a particularly hard time about his fitness; his consistent beratement of the English left-back was even described as ‘bullying’ by the Manchester United squad. However, his latest move of applying a soft touch after being critical in the public domain highlights how he has the player’s best interests at heart, and it could lead to more minutes on the pitch.
So far this season, Ndombele, rated £58.5m (Transfermarkt), has had a stuttering start to life in England, showing occasional glimpses of excellence. As per WhoScored, the Frenchman has provided two goals and two assists in the Premier League, along with a pair of assists in the 5-0 Champions League thrashing of Red Star Belgrade. It has been somewhat of a cautious transition to the English top-flight, but there are signs that with perseverance he could be a game-changing midfielder.
Mourinho appears to have devised a plan he feels can get Ndombele back into the Spurs starting line up on a regular basis, and it is now up to the 23-year-old Frenchman to execute that blueprint. It is somewhat unknown how Mourinho treated Shaw behind the scenes while he was in charge of Manchester United. Still, certainly in public, he did a substantial amount of critiquing of his performances. Ndombele has received that treatment just once, and his managers move behind the scenes could highlight that Mourinho has changed.
