Tanguy Ndombele: the complete midfield, as long as he is focused

At his best the Tottenham record signing resembles Michael Essien but his attitude has been questioned in the past.

Everybody knows how much Mauricio Pochettino loved Mousa Dembélé when the Belgian midfielder was strutting his stuff for Tottenham. “He’s one of the genius players I have been lucky enough to meet – together with Maradona, Ronaldinho, Okocha and Ivan de la Pena,” the Spurs manager once said. And everybody knows how badly he wanted to make a statement signing this summer in order to reinvigorate his project in north London.

Imagine Pochettino’s excitement now. He has done the latter with the "£55m club record purchase of Tanguy Ndombele" from Lyon and it is a move that not only plugs the gap left by Dembélé’s departure to Guangzhou R&F last January but promises to rekindle his memory.

At Lyon they love to talk up their players; to hail them as the next big thing – partly, one suspects, to swell their transfer market value. Jean-Michel Aulas, the president, has described Ndombele as the “new Michael Essien” while for Bruno Genesio, who was sacked as the manager in May, he “can be a new Paul Pogba”. There have also been the comparisons to N’Golo Kanté.

But Spurs fans will certainly see shades of Dembélé when Ndombele goes to work for them. Watch for how he gets his body in between the ball and his opponent before he rolls out the shoulder drops, the drag-backs and the pirouettes to get his team moving. Ndombele likes to manipulate the ball, Dembélé-style, by whipping his studs across the top of it while he is an excellent passer but there is also a major difference and it lies in his verticality, as they are fond of saying in France.

If latter-year Dembélé sometimes took an extra touch or looked square, Ndombele’s only thought when he gets the ball is to drive forward and break the lines, whether with a pass or a dribble. Add in his strength and explosive pace, his intelligence – particularly in the offensive transitions – and his ability to regain possession, and it is little wonder that, even at the age of 22, he has been advanced as the complete midfielder.

The raw talent has always been there but the focus has not and it is remarkable to think that as recently as the 2015-16 season Ndombele was fighting for recognition in the Amiens reserve team in the Championnat National 3, which is French football’s fifth tier.

It had all gone wrong for him at Guingamp, where he was released as a 17-year-old in 2014 – the club did not offer him a professional contract amid concerns over his commitment. Was he prepared to make the necessary sacrifices?