Spurs thought they'd signed the new Mousa Dembele, then he left for free

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They might not have the trophies to show for it, but Tottenham Hotspur have been blessed with some extraordinarily talented players over the last decade or so.

The names that probably jump out to most would be Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, who created one of the best goalscoring partnerships in Premier League history.

However, both of them get the plaudits they deserve from the wider footballing public, which cannot always be said for another sensational star of the 2010s: Mousa Dembélé.

Interestingly, one of the club's biggest flops in recent history was compared to the brilliant Belgian before things went terribly wrong for him.

Dembélé's Spurs career

After making a name for himself in the Premier League with West London outfit Fulham, Dembélé secured his big £15m move to Spurs in August 2012 at 25 years old.

The Antwerpen-born star scored on his debut for the club in a 1-1 draw with Norwich City and would go on to make 42 appearances in all competitions that year, firmly establishing himself as one of the first names on the team sheet.

The next few seasons would see the former AZ Alkmaar gem further entrench himself as one of the most talented players at the club, and when Mauricio Pochettino was appointed manager in May 2014, he got even better.

The Argentine's appreciation for the midfielder was evident, and in April 2017 he dubbed the then-29-year-old a "genius" before going on to compare him to greats such as Diego Maradona, Jay-Jay Okocha and Ronaldinho.

If that wasn't enough, the former Southampton boss also boldly claimed that had he signed "him at 18 or 19 years old, he would have become one of the best players in the world."

Unfortunately, Dembélé was also rather injury-prone, and after a couple of years of constant setbacks, he was finally sold to Chinese side Guangzhou R&F for around £11m in January 2019.

In all, he made 249 appearances for the club, scoring ten goals and providing ten assists, and some suggested that one of their targets that summer would be his replacement, only for said player to become one of the biggest flops in recent history.

Tanguy Ndombele's Spurs career

Yes, the former Spurs flop who was compared to the incredible Dembélé was Tanguy Ndombele, and no, the comparison didn't come from us.

Instead, it was a reasonably common one made in the summer of 2019, with articles from the Metro and the Guardian as just a few examples that told fans the former Lyon star would replicate the tough yet technical style of play the Belgian could regularly produce for them in years prior.

Unfortunately, we know that didn't happen, and instead, the club essentially wasted £63m as the then-22-year-old couldn't get to grips with life in North London.

Over the next five years, he would make just 91 appearances for the Lilywhites, scoring ten goals and providing nine assists while also going out on several loans.

He spent the second half of the 21/22 season back with Lyon, the whole of 22/23 with Napoli - where he didn't even play - and the whole of 23/24 in Turkey with Galatasaray.

However, perhaps worst of all, Daniel Levy and Co weren't even able to recuperate any money from his failed stint with the club as he moved to OGC Nice for free this summer following the expiration of his contract.

Ultimately, while Ndombele was unlucky at points, he has to go down as one of the worst flops in Spurs' recent history, which makes the comparisons to a player as incredible as Dembélé look even more ridiculous in retrospect.