Athletic: PSG interested in loan for Tanguy Ndombele

Tanguy Ndombele’s Tottenham Hotspur career is more or less over, barring something dramatic happening. Numerous reports are now suggesting that Spurs are trying to find someone to take him off of their hands, so long as they’re willing to pay his wages.

That’s what makes the latest rumor so interesting. According to Jack Pitt-Brooke in The Athletic (£), PSG is the latest team interested in taking Ndombele on loan until the rest of the season, a move that would reunite him with Mauricio Pochettino.

The Athletic says Pochettino is “still an admirer” of Ndombele, which makes sense, and suggests that a move could include a purchase option at the end of the season where PSG could buy him outright. RMC (via Get French Football News) also says Spurs would be interested in the inclusion of a PSG player in exchange for Tanguy, but there aren’t good options that fit with Antonio Conte’s style of play.

There’s a certain poetic symmetry in place here, should this move manifest itself. Pochettino is the man who was most instrumental in bringing Ndombele to England in the first place; he was a perfect midfield addition to Pochettino’s brand of football. But Ndombele got injured soon after joining, Tottenham went off the rails, and Pochettino was fired. We all know what happened to Tanguy after that.

Now, it is a little weird that Pochettino seemingly can’t magick up a world-class midfield out of players like Marco Varratti, Leandro Paredes, Georgino Wijnaldum, Julian Draxler, and Angel Di Maria, but hey maybe Tanguy is that missing piece for them. As a charter member of the Tanguy Defense League it would certainly warm the burned-out cinder of my heart to see Ndombele win a Champions League with Pochettino. And also make me weep a little bit, probably. For a bunch of reasons.

Anway, I like this move a heck of a lot more than the idea of Ndombele going to Roma.