Tanguy Ndombele has the chance in 2022/23 to get his career back on track after such a frustrating couple of years. Unable to recapture his top form on a consistent basis at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the French international was far from the peak of his powers when he returned on loan to Lyon for the second part of last season.
Not in Antonio Conte's plans going forward, Ndombele is set to play his football in Serie A for Napoli after the clubs agreed on a loan deal for the 25-year-old. Arriving in Italy on Thursday to undergo his medical, Luciano Spalletti's team are understood to have the option in their agreement to purchase him on a permanent deal for £25m next summer if they so wish.
A switch to Stadio Diego Armando Maradona hands the player the ideal opportunity to show what he can do and he will also have Champions League football to look forward to as well following Napoli's third-place finish in Serie A. Their return to Europe's premier competition does also raise the possibility of Ndombele coming up against his parent club in either the group stage or knockout round
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Teams will discover their Champions League fate next Thursday evening when the group stage draw is made at 5pm in Istanbul, Turkey. All connected with Tottenham will certainly be looking forward to it after failing to qualify in the two previous years.
Spurs find themselves in Pot 2 for the group stage draw and Napoli are in Pot 3. Providing of course that Tottenham aren't drawn alongside AC Milan from Pot 1, the Naples-based club are a potential opponent in the group phase.
Pot 3 also consists of Borussia Dortmund, Red Bull Salzburg, Shakhtar Donetsk, Inter Milan, Sporting CP and Bayer Leverkusen, with Benfica set to join them providing they do not surrender their 2-0 lead and crash out against Dynamo Kviv in the play-off round. While in the Premier League rules state that a loan player cannot play against his parent club, the rules do differ in the Champions League.
UEFA rules do not allow clauses preventing loanees playing against their parent club, thus meaning Tanguy Ndombele will be eligible to play for Napoli against Tottenham if they come up against each other in the Champions League. This has happened on a number of occasions in the competition in the past, including two years ago when Philippe Coutinho grabbed two goals and an assist in Bayern Munich's 8-2 demolition of his parent club Barcelona.
Other notable examples include Thibaut Courtois helping Atletico Madrid beat Chelsea in the Champions League semi-finals in 2014, Kingsley Coman knocking Juventus out when he was on loan at Bayern Munich and James Rodriguez scoring against Real Madrid when on loan at Bayern in 2017/18. While of course it is a distinct possibility at present that Ndombele could line up against Tottenham very shortly, it could soon become reality when the Champions League group stage draw commences next Thursday evening.
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