Tottenham Hotspur have broken their transfer record this summer with Dominic Solanke now sitting at the top of the list.
Tottenham Hotspur have spent big money on signings over the years but have often seen deals come back to bite them.
The less said about the signings Tottenham made after selling Gareth Bale, the better.
Look down the list of Tottenham’s biggest signings and you will find the likes of Richarlison and Davinson Sanchez – decent players who maybe didn’t live up to expectations.
More recent investments such as Micky van de Ven, James Maddison, Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero and Brennan Johnson appear better value for money and there is excitement around Archie Gray.
Yet look at the likes of Giovani Lo Celso, Steven Bergwijn, Roberto Soldado, Sergio Reguilon and Ryan Sessegnon and you will see considerable funds sunk into signings who didn’t work out.
Jamie Carragher on Tanguy Ndombele at Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham have now splashed the cash on striker Dominic Solanke, luring him away from Bournemouth.
Solanke has already impressed Gary Neville but has only been able to make on appearance for Spurs due to injury.
Solanke has become Tottenham’s most expensive signing this summer at £65million, narrowly eclipsing Tanguy Ndombele.
Midfielder Ndombele sums up the idea of a big-money, exciting signing who is backed for stardom but never lives up to the hype.
Ndombele looked set to become Mousa Dembele’s long-term heir after signing from Lyon but ended up playing just 63 Premier League games for Spurs.
One moment in the 2019-20 season saw Ndombele substituted at half-time in a 1-1 draw at Burnley just before the 2020 lockdown.
Jose Mourinho was losing patience with Ndombele and Jamie Carragher slammed him as a ‘disgrace’ in terms of effort out of possession.
Carragher has now told The Overlap that Mauricio Pochettino – the man who signed Ndombele at Tottenham – actually hit back at his criticism.
Carragher claims that Pochettino was convinced that Ndombele would come good and prove Carragher wrong, but it just never happened at Spurs.
“He was lazy, wasn’t he? I remember analysing him on a game, yeah,” said Carragher. “I remember a game away at Burnley because I looked at it on the Monday Night Football. Did Jose bring him off before half-time? It was something that stood out.
“I did analysis on him, because at the time everyone was having a go at Jose and I was almost sort of defending him and saying ‘well that’s why he’s done it’, and then a few weeks later, I bumped into Pochettino at a Champions League game at Anfield.
“He’d brought him and he was adamant saying ‘no, you’ve got it wrong, this fella’s a good player’, obviously he brought him in, but he never, ever showed anything did he?” he added.
Where is Tanguy Ndombele now?
Ndombele’s Tottenham contract was ripped up this summer after a series of loan spells away from the club.
The Frenchman returned to Lyon in 2022 before then moving on to Napoli and finally Galatasaray.
Ndombele showed flashes at times but it just wasn’t enough and his poor campaign in Turkey last season sealed his fate.
Tottenham have finally moved on from Ndombele but the 27-year-old has found a new club over the summer.
Nice have snapped up Ndombele, handing him a return to French football.
Ndombele has started all three of Nice’s Ligue 1 games so far this season and chipped in with an assist in Sunday’s 4-1 win over Angers.
Maybe this is the move Ndombele needed to get back on track but Tottenham will not feel any sense of regret over letting him go.