da bet7： The talent was there for all to see before Tanguy Ndombele arrived at Tottenham Hotspur.
da aviator aposta： Both in Ligue 1 and the Champions League, the French maestro flaunted a seldom seen level of confidence in possession of the ball.
Dropping his shoulder in a manner that Spurs fans revered Mousa Dembele for, Ndombele was seemingly the Belgian’s heir apparent, the missing piece of the jigsaw, a player capable of ensuring the club maintained their perpetual rise into Europe’s elite.
A £53.8m price-tag reflected both the demand for his signature and his potential to lead Spurs into a new era of success under Mauricio Pochettino.
Yet the script written for the 23-year-old has been re-written and, with Jose Mourinho now at the helm, his status at the club is at an all-time low. Granted, he has been at Spurs for less than a year but the weekend draw with Burnley tainted his reputation in rather spectacular fashion.
It is rare for a manger to be so openly and willingly scathing of an individual player even in cases when they have made blatant mistakes.
However, in the aftermath of proceedings at Turf Moor, the Special One unleashed a tirade that surely carries the potential to unnerve the dressing room and Ndombele in particular, per BBC Sport.
“In the first half we didn’t have a midfield,” said Mourinho.
“Of course I’m not speaking of Skipp because he’s a kid of 19 who’s played two hours in the last few days. I don’t criticise him at all.
“But I’m not going to run away and I have to say he [Ndombele] has had enough time to come to a different level.
“I know the Premier League is difficult, and some players take a long time to adapt to a different league.
“But a player with his potential has to give us more than he is giving us, especially when you see how Lucas, Lo Celso and those players are playing. I was expecting more in the first half from him.”
The scathing assessment has seen been backed by Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher, who said the performance was “nothing short of a disgrace”.
If we’re reading between the lines, it’s fair to assume that Mourinho has become disenchanted with the work-rate Ndombele is offering.
The great Mourinho sides down the years have relied on physical and mental traits and championed the structure of the collective over the triumph of the individual.
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A player with a repertoire as silky and tantalising as the former Lyon star – naturally individualistic by virtue of their talent – is not one you would typically associate with Mourinho and that fundamental problem is beginning to play out, rather bitterly, in the public eye.
It’s too early to write Ndombele off but if it’s a choice between him and Mourinho this summer it would be no great surprise if the former was forced to move on to pastures new, even if only on a temporary basis. After all, he is far too talented to sit on the bench.
While that may be true it is telling that with Spurs looking destined to crash out of the Champions League on Tuesday night, the club-record signing remained routed to the substitutes bench.
If he does eventually depart, he’ll join a long list of transfer blunders sanctioned by Daniel Levy in his bid to solidify the foundations Harry Redknapp built between October 2008 and June 2012, twice leading the club into the top-four during a transformative period in north London.
Roberto Soldado, who signed for £26m back in 2013, is the most high-profile and costly mistake made since Redknapp left in 2012, but the 12-cap France international is already in danger of topping that list amid his tumultuous maiden campaign.
Kevin Wimmer, Nacer Chadli and, to a degree, Gylfi Sigurdsson are all notable omissions from the list, but Levy’s ability to break even on the latter and profit on Chadli and Wimmer suggest it would be harsh to lump them into the extensive list of misguided transfer deals.
In total, the nine players included in the graphic signed for a combined fee of £108.1m. While that may sound eye-watering on the surface, it truly speaks to the severity of the situation unfolding at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when it’s considered that Ndombele joined for nearly half of that figure.
The problem Levy now has to confront is that the public disregard for Spurs’ record-signing from a manager of Mourinho’s international standing is bound to have, to some degree, impacted the player’s reputation and therefore his resale value.
Perhaps it’s premature to contemplate the prospect of a summer sale but the deterioration in relations between manager and player are ominous at best.
Conversely, Mourinho’s comments may just serve as added motivation to drive Ndombele to a higher platform. After all, the very best don’t know when they’re beaten.
Right now, though, the red flags have been laid bare.