Tanguy Ndombele's dream of returning to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this summer with a Champions League winner's medal in his possession came to an end on Tuesday evening.
Tipped to go all the way to the final in Istanbul in June and potentially win Europe's top prize going on Napoli's incredible form in Serie A this campaign, AC Milan delivered them an almighty blow for the third time this month. Shocking the runaway league leaders at the beginning of April with a 4-0 triumph at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona before then gaining a crucial advantage in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie one week ago, the Rossoneri once again got the better of Ndombele and Co. by securing a 1-1 draw in Naples that saw them progress to the semi-finals.
Already set to be a memorable season for Napoli with the team firmly on course to win the Scudetto for the first time since 1990, adding the Champions League trophy to their collection would have made an already remarkable campaign the greatest in their history. In such a pivotal game for Luciano Spalletti's team with a place in the final four of the Champions League up for grabs, the Italian head coach handed Ndombele only his second start of 2023 following Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa's red card in the first leg.
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A huge opportunity for the Tottenham man to show what he could do, the Frenchman unfortunately had a part to play in Olivier Giroud's opener as he failed to control a simple pass just outside the AC Milan area. Gifting Rafael Leao possession of the ball, the Portuguese ace went on a mesmerising run before putting the ball on a plate for Giroud to double their advantage on aggregate.
While of course many will look at Ndombele for losing the ball, Napoli will feel that they should have done so much better in dealing with Leao as the attacker advanced for 60 yards and eased beyond Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Amir Rrahmani rather too easily. When he was on the ball in the first half, Ndombele, as per Who Scored, made 40 passes in total, which was more than any other player.
In terms of his attacking numbers (via FotMob) in his 63 minutes on the pitch before he was hooked by Spalletti for Eljif Elmas, Ndombele was accurate with 43 of his 51 passes, he created one chance, played seven balls into the final third, was successful with all three of his dribbles and was dispossessed just the once. He also contributed in defence with four recoveries, one interception, one clearance and by winning five of his eight duels.
Now that his Champions League dream is over for another year, Ndombele has eight games remaining in his loan spell to help Napoli get over the line and wrap up the Serie A title. Despite having a bit of a wobble in April, the Naples-based club are 14 points clear of Lazio and it would take a collapse of epic proportions to miss out on only their third ever Scudetto in what remains of the season.
Ndombele's future will then become a big talking point once he makes his return to N17 from his year in Italy. Napoli do have the option in their agreement with Tottenham to sign the midfielder for €30million (£26.3m), but it remains to be seen if the Italian side will activate that option as the 26-year-old has only started ten of his 37 appearances for them.
In all likelihood, Ndombele will find himself back at Tottenham's Hotspur Way training base with his future very much in the air, as was the case prior to his return last summer. A new head coach at the helm could represent a fresh start for the £54million man at Tottenham this summer but Antonio Conte's long-term successor will have the same issue as his predecessors in trying to get the very best out of the player.
That has been an incredibly tough ask for those who have gone before him, with the player having so much quality on the ball but neither the consistency, fitness levels or work rate to be a major hit in the Premier League for Tottenham. The Lilywhites ideally don't want to be going into a fifth season in a row hoping that this is the year the midfielder finally proves his worth and showcases why he was brought to the club in the first place.
Either that means Spurs cut ties with him, which will be easier said than done as his transfer valuation has plummeted since his move and clubs are not exactly going to be queuing up for his services, or he stays in north London and becomes part of the new head coach's Spurs blueprint going forward. Ndombele's future needs to be resolved one way or another in the next couple of months, both for the new man in the Tottenham hotseat and also the player himself.
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