Tottenham’s Tanguy Ndombele won’t play under Jose Mourinho

The relationship between player and manager at Tottenham worsens.

Only a few weeks have gone by since “Project Restart” and the rift between Tanguy Ndombele and Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho appears to have already worsened.

According to ESPN’s Julien Laurens, the French midfielder has told Mourinho that he never wants to play for him again following a clash earlier in the week. The latest incident reportedly took place during a training session which then continued in the manager’s office.

This comes after Mourinho spent the break with Ndombele trying to get the player up to his standards while scurrying the lockdown protocol in the process. The player has apparently had enough and may be looking for a move away.

For those following the trajectory of Mourinho, that he has fallen out with one of his players is no surprise. What is surprising is that happened so early on in his Tottenham tenure. It’s the way he is and those expecting something different was simply wishful thinking.

Mourinho did deny talks of a rift between him and Ndombele when he was asked about it.

"“No. There is nothing. I try to do the best for my team. I can’t start with 12 or 13 players, sometimes I apologize to the ones I cannot pick,” Mourinho said after Spurs 2-0 win over West Ham.“On the bench was Tanguy, (Ryan) Sessegnon, Toby (Alderweireld), (Jan) Vertonghen, Gedson (Fernandes) and they didn’t play. That’s football.”Source: Sky Sports"

Any hopes of reconciliation appear unlikely and there does appear to be problems between the two despite what Mourinho says.

Whether or not this results in Ndombele being sold will be up to the Tottenham hierarchy. They broke their transfer record when they brought him over this season from Lyon for €62 million and it will look like a failed transfer if he’s one-and-done.

Should they decide to sell him, they are unlikely to recuperate what they paid for him and might need to send him out on loan to then move him on or include him in a possible player-swap deal with another club.

He will have his fair share of suitors. Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, Barcelona and possibly Bayern Munich, with Thiago Alcantara set to depart,  could all be interested in the 23-year-old midfielder.

When Ndombele was signed last summer, it was under Mauricio Pochettino. Who knows how his Tottenham career would be like had the Argentine manager not been sacked. The fact of the matter is he was and Mourinho was brought in as a replacement.

We already saw how his relationship with another French midfielder went to Manchester United. It certainly seems like history is repeating itself.