Tanguy Ndombele was handed a rare start for Napoli on Tuesday evening in their Champions League quarter-final first leg tie against AC Milan
Tanguy Ndombele's dream of returning to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this summer with a Champions League winner's medal in his possession came to an end on Tuesday evening.
Tipped to go all the way to the final in Istanbul in June and potentially win Europe's top prize going on Napoli's incredible form in Serie A this campaign, AC Milan delivered them an almighty blow for the third time this month. Shocking the runaway league leaders at the beginning of April with a 4-0 triumph at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona before then gaining a crucial advantage in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie one week ago, the Rossoneri once again got the better of Ndombele and Co. by securing a 1-1 draw in Naples that saw them progress to the semi-finals.
A huge opportunity for the Tottenham man to show what he could do, the Frenchman unfortunately had a part to play in Olivier Giroud's opener as he failed to control a simple pass just outside the AC Milan area. Gifting Rafael Leao possession of the ball, the Portuguese ace went on a mesmerising run before putting the ball on a plate for Giroud to double their advantage on aggregate.
While of course many will look at Ndombele for losing the ball, Napoli will feel that they should have done so much better in dealing with Leao as the attacker advanced for 60 yards and eased beyond Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Amir Rrahmani rather too easily. When he was on the ball in the first half, Ndombele, as per Who Scored, made 40 passes in total, which was more than any other player.
In terms of his attacking numbers (via FotMob) in his 63 minutes on the pitch before he was hooked by Spalletti for Eljif Elmas, Ndombele was accurate with 43 of his 51 passes, he created one chance, played seven balls into the final third, was successful with all three of his dribbles and was dispossessed just the once. He also contributed in defence with four recoveries, one interception, one clearance and by winning five of his eight duels.
That has been an incredibly tough ask for those who have gone before him, with the player having so much quality on the ball but neither the consistency, fitness levels or work rate to be a major hit in the Premier League for Tottenham. The Lilywhites ideally don't want to be going into a fifth season in a row hoping that this is the year the midfielder finally proves his worth and showcases why he was brought to the club in the first place.
Either that means Spurs cut ties with him, which will be easier said than done as his transfer valuation has plummeted since his move and clubs are not exactly going to be queuing up for his services, or he stays in north London and becomes part of the new head coach's Spurs blueprint going forward. Ndombele's future needs to be resolved one way or another in the next couple of months, both for the new man in the Tottenham hotseat and also the player himself.