[인터풋볼] Reporter Daesik Kim = Tottenham manager Antonio Conte left only vague answers when asked about Tanguy Ndombele.
Tottenham Hotspur will play the 21st round match of the 2021-22 season English Premier League (EPL) with Watford at Vicarage Road located in Watford, England on January 2 (Korean time). Tottenham are currently in sixth place with 30 points and Watford in 17th with 13 points.
Ahead of the match, Conte was asked about the January transfer window. As questions about the transfer market came up, there were reporters who naturally asked about Ndombele’s future. Conte was a sincere response to other questions, but when asked about Ndombele, he said, “He is a midfielder. He’s a midfielder, I think.”
Then, as to whether Ndombele might leave in the January transfer window, he declined to answer, saying, “It would be better for me and the club to talk. I don’t think it is correct to talk about signing and releasing players here.”
After Conte’s remarks, there is an analysis that Ndombele was nominated for release. This is because the attitude of answering questions about other players besides Ndombele was different. First, in the case of Harry Winks, “Winks is doing well. He showed that he was a player he could trust. So I will stay on the team. I was looking for a player I could trust, and the winks have proven their trust in me.” The atmosphere was different from the answer to Ndombele.
The rumors about the release of Ndombele are getting stronger because Conte has announced that he has finished evaluating the Tottenham squad. “The team evaluation is 100% complete,” he said. I worked with the players for two months and conducted the evaluation. Clearly, the situation is clearer now than it was in the past. “I’m waiting for a meeting to give my opinion on the club and the players,” he said.
Ndombele broke a new transfer fee record when he moved to Tottenham in the 2018-19 season. Tottenham made the highest transfer fee in the club’s history of 60 million euros (about 80.7 billion won). The weekly salary was the same as that of Harry Kane. However, Ndombele did not take off as a regular under the Conte manager following Jose Mourinho and Nuno Santo. As he was a player who had already wanted a transfer twice, Tottenham is also expected to start the process of release.
