muttley
Alert Team
A long read, but a good read....I’ll break it into 2 parts.
Tanguy Ndombele reveals all on Mourinho turning up at his home and Levy convincing him to stay
football.london sat down for a long chat with the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder about his tough first season at the club and how it's all turned around for him under Jose Mourinho
This comfortable, smiling version of Tanguy Ndombele is a world away from the one who watched his dream move to Tottenham become a nightmare last season.
Today the 24-year-old sits in a doorway conducting a long and revealing interview over Zoom. He takes on such topics as Jose Mourinho's treatment of him, that impromptu lockdown meeting at his home and what Daniel Levy said when he told him he wanted to leave Spurs and he does so with the confidence that experience and adaptation brings.
football.london first spoke with Ndombele across the world in Singapore a few weeks after he joined the club in the summer of 2019 and that young, shy midfielder has grown up quickly thanks to the tough experiences of the past 18 months.
Even the moment he joined Spurs was something that came out of the blue - quite literally.
You might have noticed at the time that in Ndombele's unveiling photos he was wearing a cap on his head.
They were not meant to be the most laid back signing shots ever released. In fact, the Frenchman had not actually expected to sign for the club that day, but Spurs would not let him go until he put pen to paper on his deal.
"It’s true. I was on holiday and I had dyed hair and I received the call. They said: 'You've got to come to Spurs, it's now or never,'" he told football.london this week.
"I said, 'Ah, I’ve dyed my hair, my hair is blue!' They said: 'You've got to come anyway.' As it happened it was fine. They said I could keep my hat on so that's how I look in the photos!"
Mauricio Pochettino had already convinced Ndombele to leave Lyon for north London. The player said the Argentine "spoke very well" and told the France international that "he saw a good young player with so much potential that alongside him would develop".
That first experience of a Pochettino pre-season was a killer though and the club record signing admitted that he wanted to go home within weeks.
"It was incredibly tough. I remember that I was even calling home to my friends in France saying I want to come back," he admitted.
"It was so, so tough, but perhaps it was what I needed. I needed to get used to that sort of work, to that sort of training and over time to acclimatise to it."
Ndombele had risen so quickly in such a short space of time, from the fifth division of French football to becoming a Premier League player, that the jolt of those infamous Pochettino pre-seasons actually ended up causing him problems.
"Yes, undoubtedly, I think it did have a role to play in the injuries I got [later on]," said the player, speaking during an appearance for IWC Schaffhausen, the club’s official watch partner.
"Obviously my body just needed to get used to that sort of work and maybe it was the shock of that hard work to begin with that perhaps had a role to play in the fitness problems I had. I think my body just needed to adapt to it."
The Premier League felt a world away from his upbringing.
Ndombele was born in Longjumeau, a suburb of Paris, and he grew up idolising Ronaldinho, Zinedine Zidane and later Cristiano Ronaldo.
His early years in football took him to various youth sides around the capital before he was snapped up into the renowned Guingamp academy.
However, while he was a talented midfielder, often playing in much higher age groups, he was released just before he managed to reach the first team, his team-mates and coaches later stating that he simply didn't seem to want it as much as everyone else.
The rejection continued as other professional clubs passed on him after trials, claiming that he was clearly gifted but out of shape, and he finally ended up down the sport's ladder at Amiens.
It was in the fifth level of French football that he took control of his football destiny and it turned him into a fighter.
"It all made me more resilient," he said. "When you are young, it’s never easy and in the Paris region it’s really hard to go places with football because there are just so many good players around, but when you are up against them week in, week out, your level increases.
Ndombele's game is all about being calm under pressure, someone who uses his natural-born talent to get out of tricky situations with a quick mind to plan a route through.
One moment he is surrounded by players, the next he has motored away before sending a trademark no-look pass or through ball to a team-mate.
"I’m someone who plays on instinct. I never ask myself too many questions on the field. Things come to me quickly in my head, thankfully," he explained.
"It's important not to be afraid. That’s exactly it. You try stuff, and taking a risk is part of the job.
"Of course sometimes that's not easy but if you go for something risky and it helps the team then that's great, and I think all teams need players who are ready to take risks."
Even that eye-catching pirouette he uses to bamboozle surrounding opponents, something Spurs fans have likened to his predecessor and near-namesake Mousa Dembele's trademark turn, is born from instinct.
"It’s not something that I think about too much, to be honest," he said. "It comes naturally.
"If I sense that it’s the right time to pull off the move, I do it and if not, then I don’t bring it out."
Ndombele laughs when asked whether it's his duty to entertain the supporters.
"No. I am just trying to do what is good for the team on the pitch," he said. "If entertaining the crowd is better for the team then that's good but I'm not going to dribble just to be an entertainer."
Ndombele's career brought him to Lyon, the Champions League, and then Tottenham, where Pochettino soon gave way to Mourinho, a very different type of manager.
"If you know Jose Mourinho then you understand how he behaves," explained the Frenchman.
"I wouldn’t call it confrontation, but he’s just got a certain way of sending his messages and it actually all depends on how you receive those messages he sends."
Tanguy Ndombele reveals all on Mourinho turning up at his home and Levy convincing him to stay
football.london sat down for a long chat with the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder about his tough first season at the club and how it's all turned around for him under Jose Mourinho
This comfortable, smiling version of Tanguy Ndombele is a world away from the one who watched his dream move to Tottenham become a nightmare last season.
Today the 24-year-old sits in a doorway conducting a long and revealing interview over Zoom. He takes on such topics as Jose Mourinho's treatment of him, that impromptu lockdown meeting at his home and what Daniel Levy said when he told him he wanted to leave Spurs and he does so with the confidence that experience and adaptation brings.
football.london first spoke with Ndombele across the world in Singapore a few weeks after he joined the club in the summer of 2019 and that young, shy midfielder has grown up quickly thanks to the tough experiences of the past 18 months.
Even the moment he joined Spurs was something that came out of the blue - quite literally.
You might have noticed at the time that in Ndombele's unveiling photos he was wearing a cap on his head.
They were not meant to be the most laid back signing shots ever released. In fact, the Frenchman had not actually expected to sign for the club that day, but Spurs would not let him go until he put pen to paper on his deal.
"It’s true. I was on holiday and I had dyed hair and I received the call. They said: 'You've got to come to Spurs, it's now or never,'" he told football.london this week.
"I said, 'Ah, I’ve dyed my hair, my hair is blue!' They said: 'You've got to come anyway.' As it happened it was fine. They said I could keep my hat on so that's how I look in the photos!"
Mauricio Pochettino had already convinced Ndombele to leave Lyon for north London. The player said the Argentine "spoke very well" and told the France international that "he saw a good young player with so much potential that alongside him would develop".
That first experience of a Pochettino pre-season was a killer though and the club record signing admitted that he wanted to go home within weeks.
"It was incredibly tough. I remember that I was even calling home to my friends in France saying I want to come back," he admitted.
"It was so, so tough, but perhaps it was what I needed. I needed to get used to that sort of work, to that sort of training and over time to acclimatise to it."
Ndombele had risen so quickly in such a short space of time, from the fifth division of French football to becoming a Premier League player, that the jolt of those infamous Pochettino pre-seasons actually ended up causing him problems.
"Yes, undoubtedly, I think it did have a role to play in the injuries I got [later on]," said the player, speaking during an appearance for IWC Schaffhausen, the club’s official watch partner.
"Obviously my body just needed to get used to that sort of work and maybe it was the shock of that hard work to begin with that perhaps had a role to play in the fitness problems I had. I think my body just needed to adapt to it."
The Premier League felt a world away from his upbringing.
Ndombele was born in Longjumeau, a suburb of Paris, and he grew up idolising Ronaldinho, Zinedine Zidane and later Cristiano Ronaldo.
His early years in football took him to various youth sides around the capital before he was snapped up into the renowned Guingamp academy.
However, while he was a talented midfielder, often playing in much higher age groups, he was released just before he managed to reach the first team, his team-mates and coaches later stating that he simply didn't seem to want it as much as everyone else.
The rejection continued as other professional clubs passed on him after trials, claiming that he was clearly gifted but out of shape, and he finally ended up down the sport's ladder at Amiens.
It was in the fifth level of French football that he took control of his football destiny and it turned him into a fighter.
"It all made me more resilient," he said. "When you are young, it’s never easy and in the Paris region it’s really hard to go places with football because there are just so many good players around, but when you are up against them week in, week out, your level increases.
Ndombele's game is all about being calm under pressure, someone who uses his natural-born talent to get out of tricky situations with a quick mind to plan a route through.
One moment he is surrounded by players, the next he has motored away before sending a trademark no-look pass or through ball to a team-mate.
"I’m someone who plays on instinct. I never ask myself too many questions on the field. Things come to me quickly in my head, thankfully," he explained.
"It's important not to be afraid. That’s exactly it. You try stuff, and taking a risk is part of the job.
"Of course sometimes that's not easy but if you go for something risky and it helps the team then that's great, and I think all teams need players who are ready to take risks."
Even that eye-catching pirouette he uses to bamboozle surrounding opponents, something Spurs fans have likened to his predecessor and near-namesake Mousa Dembele's trademark turn, is born from instinct.
"It’s not something that I think about too much, to be honest," he said. "It comes naturally.
"If I sense that it’s the right time to pull off the move, I do it and if not, then I don’t bring it out."
Ndombele laughs when asked whether it's his duty to entertain the supporters.
"No. I am just trying to do what is good for the team on the pitch," he said. "If entertaining the crowd is better for the team then that's good but I'm not going to dribble just to be an entertainer."
Ndombele's career brought him to Lyon, the Champions League, and then Tottenham, where Pochettino soon gave way to Mourinho, a very different type of manager.
"If you know Jose Mourinho then you understand how he behaves," explained the Frenchman.
"I wouldn’t call it confrontation, but he’s just got a certain way of sending his messages and it actually all depends on how you receive those messages he sends."