Tanguy Ndombele

Tanguy Ndombele Alvaro (born 28 December 1996) is a French professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Nice but was not offered a professional contract. He signed for Ligue 2 side Amiens, playing for the reserves until becoming a first-team regular in the 2015-16 season.

Ahead of the 2016–17 season, he moved to Lyon as part of a loan deal. Ndombele was critical in the team's success and third-place finish that allowed the team's return to the UEFA Champions League. After another season at the club, Ndombele earned a move to Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur F.C. in a deal worth £62 million.

At Tottenham, Ndombele's first seasons were unsuccessful, which saw him getting criticized for his work rate and dropped from the squad in 2021. Ndombele then went on several loan deals. He won the Scudetto with Napoli and the Süper Lig with Galatasaray before signing for Nice, Essonne to parents from DR Congo. He holds both French and Congolese nationalities.

Club career

Early career

As a child, Ndombele played at FC Épinay Athlético, a club based in Épinay-sous-Sénart, about 20 kilometres south-east of Paris, in Essonne when he was 14, in order to play for Guingamp, where he spent three seasons. He was not offered a professional contract at the end of his development. At 16, he made his senior debut, on 11 January 2014 with the reserves, by replacing Vital N'Simba near the final whistle.

He then signed for SC Amiens, who'd just been relegated from French Ligue 2 in June 2014; he took this as an opportunity to trial at numerous clubs (Auxerre, Caen, and Angers) but wasn't signed. The issue was that Ndombele was criticised for being "overweight"; this was the main reason that he wasn't signed by clubs, even though trialists were aware that he was a good playmaker.

Ndombele played two seasons in Championnat National 3 with the Amiens reserve team. He only played one game during the 2014–15 season, 8 November 2014, once again, coming on late in the match. He became a regular during the 2015–16 season, taking part in 18 matches. He started for the first time on 5 September 2015 at the age of 18 years and nine months.

Lyon

On 31 August 2017, Ndombele moved to Lyon on a one-year loan. According to ''L'Équipe'', Lyon paid €2 million for the loan. Lyon also secured an option to sign him permanently for €8 million, plus a possible €250,000 in bonuses and 20% of any profit made should he be transferred from Lyon to another club.

Ndombele made his competitive debut for Lyon's first team in the 2–0 Ligue 1 away loss to Paris Saint-Germain on 17 September 2017; he started the match and was replaced by Christopher Martins in the 72nd minute. On 15 February 2018, Ndombele scored a goal (his first career competitive goal for Lyon's first team) in the 46th minute of their 3–1 home win over Villarreal CF in the round of 32 first leg of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League.

His first season at Lyon was very successful as he provided great energy to the team while helping them get back to Champions League football for the next season as Lyon finished third behind PSG and Monaco. He became an indisputable starter for the team and was, alongside Ferland Mendy and Houssem Aouar, one of the great young players of his team. Few teams also showed interest for the French prodigy but Lyon made it clear that he won't be sold and won't return to his former club Amiens as Lyon paid the €8 million release clause to buy him.

The next season, Lyon signed him permanently as it was previously stated in the loan deal and his contract was extended until 2022 with the ''Gones''. He started off the season well and for his first match in the UEFA Champions League against Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium, with a 2–1 away win, goals from Cornet and Fekir. He then scored his first Champions League goal against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on 11 November 2018 (2–2 draw). He scored his first Ligue 1 goal against Nîmes on 24 May 2019 and Lyon eventually finished third in Ligue 1, behind Lille and PSG. His team was also eliminated by FC Barcelona in Champions League Round-of-16 (5–1 loss over the two legs) and finished the season trophy-less despite giving out great performances against superior teams (2–1 win against PSG, 2–1 win and 2–2 draw against Manchester City, 0–0 draw against Barcelona). Lyon's president Jean-Michel Aulas announced that he had received offers for Ndombele and that he might leave that summer.

Tottenham Hotspur

On 2 July 2019, Ndombele signed for Tottenham Hotspur in a club-record deal worth €62 million (£55.45 million) plus up to €10 million (£8.97 million) in add-ons, surpassing the previous transfer record set by Davinson Sánchez. He made his debut in the 2019 International Champions Cup against Juventus. Within a minute of being substituted on and with his first touch in a Tottenham shirt, Ndombele assisted Lucas Moura. Tottenham won the game 3–2.

On 10 August 2019, Ndombele made his Premier League debut for Tottenham and scored the first league goal for the club in the 2019–20 season, helping the team to come from behind to win 3–1 against Aston Villa.

Due to his poor form, after a 1–1 draw with Burnley on 7 March 2020 Tottenham manager José Mourinho criticised Ndombele's performance and his perceived unprofessionalism saying "He's a player with great talent. He has to know he has to do much better and know I cannot keep giving him opportunities to play because the team is much more important." He only played two further games that season, and his poor relationship with the manager led to widespread expectation he would leave in the summer, but he stayed and the rift eventually healed.

In the 2020–21 season, on 17 September 2020, Ndombele scored the late winner against Lokomotiv Plovdiv in the second qualifying round of the Europa League, sealing a 2–1 win that sent Tottenham to the next qualifying round. In the Premier League game against Manchester United on 4 October, he scored his first Premier League goal of the season, starting a rout that ended in a 6–1 win, which is the biggest win for Tottenham at Old Trafford, and the best result against United since 1932. His string of strong performances, in particular a 0–0 draw against Chelsea, in which he performed a skill move to get away from N'Golo Kanté and Thiago Silva, led him to be considered by fans to be one of the most polarising midfielders in the Premier League that season. These strong showings helped his team to stand at the top of the league in December.

On 17 January 2021, Ndombele scored when he flicked the ball while facing away from the goal, and scored from a tight angle with the ball landing at the far corner of Sheffield United's goal, capping a 3–1 win for Tottenham. On 25 January 2021, Ndombele scored his first FA Cup goal in a 4–1 away win over Championship side Wycombe Wanderers in the Fourth round, eventually scoring a second in stoppage time to secure the victory. In the final rounds of the season, due to poor fitness condition and injury, Ndombele was left out of the squad by interim manager Ryan Mason.

At the end of the 2023–24 season, Tottenham confirmed the mutual termination of Ndombele's contract with the club.

Loan moves

On 31 January 2022, Lyon announced the return of Ndombele on a loan deal until the end of the season, with an option to buy the player for €65 million.

On 18 August 2022, Ndombele was loaned to Napoli until the end of the season with an option to buy the player for €30 million. On 4 September 2023, he joined Turkish Süper Lig side Galatasaray on loan with an option to buy for €15m.

Following three unsuccessful loan spells during which none of the clubs chose to exercise the purchase option, his contract with Tottenham was mutually terminated, which would expire on 30 June 2024.

Nice

On 4 July 2024, Ndombele signed a two-year contract with French side Nice

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