Player Watch - Tanguy Ndombele

[SpursSince1980]

The mistake Tottenham made was not doing enough background checks on his character and the support he'd require...it was basically all left to Sessoko. I still feel he is a brilliant talent but obviously not of the required mentality. For the record between Ndombele and Lo Celso I feel both were flops Lo Celso being the biggest.

Catastrophic mistake in terms of scouting. When you are about to make your biggest ever outlay for a player, the due diligence has to be ratcheted up to 100%. Instead it would seem that Poch said ‘I want him’, and the club backed him without thoroughly examine his psychological approach to being a professional footballer.

it’s sad all round. Huge financial blow for us. And whatever reputable reputation he had before is obliterated. Everyone in the world knows that he is lazy and unmotivated. And that is just what we see on the field. Would be curious to know if it shows up the same way in training.

 

[Stoof]

Catastrophic mistake in terms of scouting. When you are about to make your biggest ever outlay for a player, the due diligence has to be ratcheted up to 100%. Instead it would seem that Poch said ‘I want him’, and the club backed him without thoroughly examine his psychological approach to being a professional footballer.

it’s sad all round. Huge financial blow for us. And whatever reputable reputation he had before is obliterated. Everyone in the world knows that he is lazy and unmotivated. And that is just what we see on the field. Would be curious to know if it shows up the same way in training.

I find this sort of view troubling, with the assumption that all of this wasn’t done.

There is no doubt in my mind that the club thought that Poch could get the best out of him. You can’t rule out a person’s future based on a couple of years as a young person. Literally none of us would have jobs.

 

[mickdale]

I find this sort of view troubling, with the assumption that all of this wasn’t done.

There is no doubt in my mind that the club thought that Poch could get the best out of him. You can’t rule out a person’s future based on a couple of years as a young person. Literally none of us would have jobs.

Sorry got to disagree here. There was the information, it looks like it must have been assessed and overruled.

 

[Stoof]

Sorry got to disagree here. There was the information, it looks like it must have been assessed and overruled.

So is it a lack of DD? If there was information about it? I mean, not being funny, if forum posters know about it, then the people in charge of such things know about it too. That's for damn sure.

In the same way you buy a multi-storey car park that might fall down in the next two years, but that would probably save you a few mill on demolition costs so you take the risk that it doesn't kill anyone before you've cleared the tenants out of the centre below.

I don't like the assumption that we just blindly signed him. But then I don't like the further assumption that people don't have the capacity to play wildly differently and/or buck up their ideas depending on which manager they play under.

I work for some partners better than others, not because I'm a bad egg but because some know my strengths and how to get the best out of me.

 

[only1waddle]

I find this sort of view troubling, with the assumption that all of this wasn’t done.

There is no doubt in my mind that the club thought that Poch could get the best out of him. You can’t rule out a person’s future based on a couple of years as a young person. Literally none of us would have jobs.

Indeed, I don't think it's a wild assumption to suggest Poch thinks he can turn suspect characters around, Osvaldo, Aurier, Ndombele etc, I'm sure there has been others, it's just in the mans nature to be a father, arm round the shoulder type figure, which I have admiration for but unfortunately that approach has been a bit pricey.
That's not to say we haven't seen fully scouted, expensive, model professionals bomb with us also.

It's only now, with a serial won't take any shit winner leading us that we can see the level of professionalism needed to push on, actual elite level coaching at Spurs attracting talented players with hard working attitudes to boot, who'd a thunk it, and it's magnified the transfers of players with suspect attitudes previously.

 

[mil1lion]

We've made some absolute bargains over the years too so I don't think it is such a big deal that we lose out on Ndombele. You can go big on a player with all the expectation that they are special and it can backfire. Yet you can also take a chance on a bargain and strike gold. I'm not going to worry about the losses we've had on him, we're still financially strong and in a great position spending big this window.

 

[Johnny J]

We've made some absolute bargains over the years too so I don't think it is such a big deal that we lose out on Ndombele. You can go big on a player with all the expectation that they are special and it can backfire. Yet you can also take a chance on a bargain and strike gold. I'm not going to worry about the losses we've had on him, we're still financially strong and in a great position spending big this window.

I think it's testament to how well Levy runs the business side that we can tolerate such a huge loss on this waster and still invest heavily.

 

[Johnny J]

There is no doubt in my mind that the club thought that Poch could get the best out of him.

I read somewhere in a book about football managers that there will always, always be managers that back themselves to be the one who could turn around that ailing giant or get the best out of that talented but wayward player.

Which is kind of what you want in a manager; they need to have absolute confidence in what they're doing in order to get a squad to buy in and believe in it too.

 

[SpursSince1980]

I find this sort of view troubling, with the assumption that all of this wasn’t done.

There is no doubt in my mind that the club thought that Poch could get the best out of him. You can’t rule out a person’s future based on a couple of years as a young person. Literally none of us would have jobs.

Really? Didn’t his previous coach before Lyon hint at these issues? I get where you are coming from, but by 22/23 they knew what they were getting and the potential risks. Attitude issues had come up before. It was a red flag that was ignored. I’m sorry, but when you are about to break the club’s record transfer fee, things like that matter.

Good for Poch if he felt the guy had turned a corner. Turned out he was wrong. Very wrong. And when a mistake is evaluated it must be done in context of the situation. If he was a basket case that cost us 15m, then fair enough. But this is a 50m flop. Not just a flop. One that is so toxic, he can’t be moved on. And there is history there to suggest that there was some risk.

We rolled the dice on this one, and it didn’t work out. But mark my words…. Levy will not greenlight a deal that expensive again if there is even the slightest hint at character issues.

 

[rossdapep]

Whose to say the scouts didn't note these points? But Poch decided it wasn't a factor to put him off?

I have a feeling Poch wanted another player as close to Dembele as possible.

If your a scout you'd find the players based on talent that fit that and earmark the issues/negatives.

We supposedly wanted De Jong the year before and him and Ndombele were two of the best world class potentials at the time in that role.

I'm certain the scouts would have noted his discipline/lack of application. In fact, I refuse to believe they didn't.

 

[DannyNZ]

There is always a big risk if you don’t recruit based on character in addition to ability.

 

[synththfc]

Really? Didn’t his previous coach before Lyon hint at these issues? I get where you are coming from, but by 22/23 they knew what they were getting and the potential risks. Attitude issues had come up before. It was a red flag that was ignored. I’m sorry, but when you are about to break the club’s record transfer fee, things like that matter.

Good for Poch if he felt the guy had turned a corner. Turned out he was wrong. Very wrong. And when a mistake is evaluated it must be done in context of the situation. If he was a basket case that cost us 15m, then fair enough. But this is a 50m flop. Not just a flop. One that is so toxic, he can’t be moved on. And there is history there to suggest that there was some risk.

We rolled the dice on this one, and it didn’t work out. But mark my words…. Levy will not greenlight a deal that expensive again if there is even the slightest hint at character issues.

The good news is, it seems, is that neither will Conte or Paratici.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

I read somewhere in a book about football managers that there will always, always be managers that back themselves to be the one who could turn around that ailing giant or get the best out of that talented but wayward player.

Which is kind of what you want in a manager; they need to have absolute confidence in what they're doing in order to get a squad to buy in and believe in it too.

Only if that judgement is correct. Which wasn’t the case for Ndombele

 

[dontcallme]

Sorry got to disagree here. There was the information, it looks like it must have been assessed and overruled.

Really? Didn’t his previous coach before Lyon hint at these issues? I get where you are coming from, but by 22/23 they knew what they were getting and the potential risks. Attitude issues had come up before. It was a red flag that was ignored. I’m sorry, but when you are about to break the club’s record transfer fee, things like that matter.

Good for Poch if he felt the guy had turned a corner. Turned out he was wrong. Very wrong. And when a mistake is evaluated it must be done in context of the situation. If he was a basket case that cost us 15m, then fair enough. But this is a 50m flop. Not just a flop. One that is so toxic, he can’t be moved on. And there is history there to suggest that there was some risk.

We rolled the dice on this one, and it didn’t work out. But mark my words…. Levy will not greenlight a deal that expensive again if there is even the slightest hint at character issues.

The manager identified a player he wanted and you think Levy should have over ruled it thinking he knows better.

Isn’t this the exact kind of thing he often gets criticised for? It seems we want Levy to stay away from footballing decisions unless it doesn’t work out in hindsight.

 

[Yiddo1982]

I'd love to know whether other "more attractive" clubs turned their noses up at him due to said issues, leaving us with a free run... I always got the impression we were a bit giddy that he'd chose to come to us.

 

[dontcallme]

I'd love to know whether other "more attractive" clubs turned their noses up at him due to said issues, leaving us with a free run... I always got the impression we were a bit giddy that he'd choose to come to us.

We were but why others didn’t bid we’ll never know.

It appeared a coup at the time and buying a player with his ability that the manager wanted was something we had to support.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

I'd love to know whether other "more attractive" clubs turned their noses up at him due to said issues, leaving us with a free run... I always got the impression we were a bit giddy that he'd choose to come to us.

I think that’s right. It seemed like we had a pretty clear run

 

[14/04/91]

I think that’s right. It seemed like we had a pretty clear run

It was done very early on that summer so we obviously didn’t mess around with fee etc but you’d still expect his agent to speak to other clubs. Maybe they heard what we’d offered and thought nuts to that!

 

[mil1lion]

Honestly we went the previous summer signing nobody, we probably forgot how to make a signing by that point

 

[Reece_Spurs]

The manager identified a player he wanted and you think Levy should have over ruled it thinking he knows better.

Isn’t this the exact kind of thing he often gets criticised for? It seems we want Levy to stay away from footballing decisions unless it doesn’t work out in hindsight.

For some it will always be Levys fault.

Even this summer, the only transfer we've been told Levy had involvement in was Spence.

I bet if any other transfers we've signed this summer struggle people will say "I bet Levy was behind this signing"

People just have agendas. Even despite all the itk that Levy has taken a back seat. It will somehow still all be his fault if things don't go our way.