Ndombélé asked for Inter transfer - “This season, things are going pretty well with Mourinho”

Things did not go well at all for Tanguy Ndombélé in his first year at Tottenham, which of course caused a stir in view of the record fee paid by Spurs to Lyon for the central midfielder. The Frenchman, who was now talking about major problems with manager José Mourinho – which have since been solved – would have liked to leave again. A request from Inter Milan was rejected by Spurs, however, as Ndombéle revealed.

Rumours about Inter Milan’s interest in Ndombélé already began to surface in July. He had just completed one of six years of contract and had little to show for it. “It was incredibly hard for me,” the player recalled in an interview with Canal+ in France (quoted via L'Équipe). To make matters worse, the France international also suffered a number of minor injuries in London. “That was because I couldn’t cope with the heavy workload,” Ndombélé said.

Spurs refused Inter transfer - Ndombélé understands Mourinho better now

At Inter, where Ndombélé could have moved to if Spurs had agreed, Ndombélé was “exactly what Inter head coach Antonio Conte was looking for in a midfielder,” according to Jatin Dietl, area manager of Tranfermarkt.it. But Tottenham refused to sell the player, who was only signed for €60 million in 2019. Ndombélé, however, had certainly considered the possibility of an immediate departure after one year.

He had asked Tottenham about a possible move to Inter, but Daniel Levy declined. “The president said he wanted to keep me,” Ndombélé succinctly summarised the events of the time. However, the player then had much more to say about his own unsatisfactory situation with manager Mourinho, which clearly illustrates the situation at Spurs last season.

Ndombélé, Zidane & Co. The most expensive French players in history Click here for overview Ndombélé makes it clear that Mourinho did not make life easy for him in north London. From today’s perspective, the ninth most expensive Frenchman in the history of football finds understanding for his coach and criticises himself, however. “I had to do more,” said Ndombélé. “I can understand that (Mourinho’s criticism). You can see that I am a bit nonchalant. It must be even worse if I don’t play.”

Ndombélé: At Spurs “everyone has now put their ego aside”

But the situation at Tottenham has now changed fundamentally – which also applies to Mourinho. Ndombélé said: “I have managed to show him that I’m motivated. That is what counts. This season, things are going pretty well with the coach, everyone has put their ego aside now. There are things I disagreed with, just like the manager disagreed with other things. I made mistakes, but today it’s going well. We’ve put that behind us and we’re trying to move forward.”