Tanguy Ndombele has claimed he had “no choice” but to leave Tottenham and join Napoli.
The midfielder is Spurs’ club-record signing, after arriving in the summer of 2019, but was regularly criticised by Jose Mourinho during his time in charge and was never in favour under Antonio Conte.
Ndombele returned to Lyon on loan for the second half of last season, and has been at Napoli this campaign on loan. While he has made 26 Serie A appearances, for a side that sit 16 points clear at the top of the table, only six of those have been starts and he is yet to play 90 minutes in the league.
Napoli have an option to make the move a permanent one in the summer, though it remains to be seen whether they have any desire to do so. If not, the 26-year-old will return to north London and hope that a new manager brings a change in fortunes.
Reflecting on his decision to move to Italy on loan, Ndombele insisted he has no regrets as he revealed Conte made it clear that he would not be regularly involved with the first-team had he stayed at Tottenham.
“There was no other solution with Tottenham and I’m happy I chose Napoli,” Ndombele told SoFoot.
“With Conte there was no choice, I would have liked to demonstrate my value on the pitch but I was on the edge of the group. It was communicated to me from the first day of training with the team.
“I don’t know what my future will be, many fans ask me to return to Tottenham but the clubs will decide and Napoli have an option to buy.
“I don’t mind being on loan here but sometimes I see footballers being treated more like commodities than people.”
