Recent results aside, things are generally looking up for Tottenham Hotspur at the moment.
They have a popular manager in the hot seat who is dedicated to playing aesthetically pleasing, attacking football, and while they might not make the Champions League, they stand a great chance of qualifying for the Europa League.
Moreover, with the summer transfer window right around the corner, the club have an opportunity to flex their financial muscles a bit and really back Ange Postecoglou's vision.
That said, alongside bringing some players into the club, Daniel Levy and Co must cut the deadwood, and there is one high earner in particular that simply has to go.
Tanguy Ndombele's Spurs career
Come on, who else could it have been?
French midfielder Tanguy Ndombele joined Spurs from Ligue 1 giants Lyon in the summer of 2019, attracting considerable fanfare from supporters and pundits alike due to his impressive performances in his home country and the Champions League.
For example, in an assessment that might still haunt him to this day, The Athletic's Jack Pitt-Brooke wrote (for the Independent) that 'The £55million arrival of Tanguy Ndombele from Olympique Lyonnais is not just the most important football signing of the summer, but the loudest statement about the direction of any club for years.'
However, in his defence, most of us thought he would be a hit signing at the time, as just a year prior, Pep Guardiola described the Lyon team he was a part of as being "full of quality" after it was reported that the Spaniard encouraged Manchester City to sign the midfielder ahead of Spurs.
Fortunately for them, the Lilywhites got their man, and despite the odd good performance here and there, the Frenchman has never been able to live up to the expectations people had for him, often being labelled as "lazy" by fans and pundits for his apparent lack of effort on the pitch.
Appearances
91
Goals
10
Assists
9
Goal Involvements per Match
0.20
The 27-year-old has made 91 appearances for the club since 2019, scoring ten goals, providing nine assists, and leaving on loan three times, and to make matters worse, when he returns from his current loan, he'll be the club's top earner.
Tanguy Ndombele's salary at Spurs
When Ndombele joined the North Londoners in 2019 for £63m, he was handed a massive £200k-per-week deal, which, at the time, made him the joint-top earner at the club alongside Harry Kane and means that he's currently making more money than club captain and icon Heung-min Son, who makes around £190k-per-week.
His mammoth salary comes to around £10.4m-per-season, which means, for the first two and a half years at the club, he earned £26m before spending the second half of the 2021/22 campaign on loan with Lyon.
With it clear that he no longer had a future in N17, Antonio Conte agreed to send the central midfielder on loan to Serie A giants Napoli last season, who paid €3.5m – £3m – towards his salary, leaving Tottenham to foot the other £7.4m.
Whereas this year, his new loan club, Galatasaray agreed to pay just €3.1m – £2.6m – meaning Postecoglou's Spurs are still paying a massive £7.8m for a player they clearly do not want.
Transfer Fee
£63m
Wages (Total)
£200k (£41.2m)
Appearances
91
Cost per Appearance
£1.1m
Goals
10
Cost per Goal
£10.4m
Assists
9
Cost per Assist
£11.5m
Goal Involvements
19
Cost per Goal Involvement
£5.4m
Therefore, when combining the Frenchman's wages from his time in England and on loan with his transfer fee, the total cost will amount to a whopping £104.2m by the end of the season, and it could be even higher depending on the agreement the club had with Lyon in 2021/22.
In other words, the Longjumeau-born flop cost Spurs around £1.1m-per-appearance, £10.4m-per-goal, or £11.5m-per-assist – talk about value for money.
Ultimately, while there have undoubtedly been worse players to have represented Tottenham in the past, the sheer amount of money involved here has to make Ndombele one of the worst transfers in the club's history, and if Galatasaray do not take up their €15m – £13m – option to buy at the end of the season, Levy and Co must be cold and terminate his deal.
Spurs were rinsed by Poch's "deadwood" who earned more than Van de Ven
The Pochettino-backed flop cost the Lilywhites an awful lot of money.
ByJack Salveson HolmesMay 7, 2024