Spurs are edging closer to the signing of French midfielder Tanguy Ndombele.
According to reports, Mauricio Pochettino’s side are set to fork out £60million for the Lyon youngster – making him their first big-money signing since Lucas Moura in January 2018.
But having finally splashed David Levy’s cash, what are the Champions League finalists getting out of the France international?
Spurs have desperately sought after a combative, stylish central-midfield since letting go of Mousa Dembele last season, and Pochettino has seemingly had his heart set on Ndombele for some time.
Described in France as ‘the next N’Golo Kante’, Ndombele is actually more of a box-to-box midfielder and is significantly taller and more athletic than the Chelsea dynamo.
He’s also more of a ‘ball-carrier’, often marauding forward from his own half, making forward passes, and generally contributing to his team’s attacking play.
In fact, he’s a lot more like Michael Essien, than Kante.
What could Tanguy Ndombele bring to your fantasy football team?
We understand if you’re feeling a little apprehensive.
After all, big-money midfielder-signings from the continent haven’t exactly set the Premier League alight in recent seasons, with everyone from Tiemoue Bakayoko through to Fred failing to live up to their pre-transfer hype.
Just last season, we were pondering how the likes of Jorginho and Naby Keita would do in their first Dream Team campaign and we were all left rather disappointed.
Will it be the same story with Ndombele?
Of course, it’s hard to say, but Ndombele has the advantage of impressing in the midfield of a very talented France team, as well as pulling up stops for Lyon in last season’s Champions League.
He netted twice in Lyon’s European run last season and was one of the standout stars in their 2-1 win over Man City, while he looks like the perfect midfield-partner to Paul Pogba in the middle for Les Bleus.
At Spurs, we imagine he’d be deployed in a midfield three, alongside Harry Winks and Dele Alli, with Christian Eriksen – should he stick around beyond this summer – playing slightly further forward.
And with Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son as the club’s preferred attacking pairing, we can see him picking up a fair few assists in the coming season, as he picked up seven in Ligue 1 last term.
Overall, his performances have not translated too well with WhoScored, with his average rating for last season at just 7.02, however it’s his individual stats in Ligue 1 that really make him standout.
Aside from his pass success percentage – which is at just over 89% in France’s top-flight – Ndombele also leads the way in the league in terms of most take-ons, most fouls won and most tackles.
Spurs really have signed an all-action midfield.
Players prices for Dream Team’s new season have yet to be revealed, so we can only guess at how much Spurs’ upcoming signing will initially cost on the game.
But with the likes of Kante, Dembele, Eric Dier and Nemanja Matic all starting last season around the £3.0m mark, we reckon there’s a decent chance Ndombele will be valued at around the same amount.
When does Dream Team start next season?
We’re all ready for the new Dream Team season.
Nothing has been confirmed yet, but we imagine the game will open in the second week of July – although you’ll be able to pre-register well before then.
And then it all kicks-off on August 9th, with Liverpool hosting newly-promoted Norwich at Anfield.
As always, Dream Team will be completely free to play and there’ll be a tasty jackpot up for grabs if you finish inside the top 10 at the end of the season.
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