Conte must ruthlessly axe "laughable" £25m-rated Spurs flop, he can't "be relied upon" - opinion

Tottenham Hotspur have been dealt a huge blow in their bid to move Tanguy Ndombele on in the summer transfer window.

That’s according to a report by The Sun, who claim that Lyon will not be taking up their £54m option to sign the midfielder on a permanent basis at the end of the current campaign – with the France international having linked up with his former side on a short-term loan deal in the January transfer window.

This is sure to come as a huge blow to Antonio Conte and Fabio Paratici, with recent reports claiming that both men have come to the conclusion that the 25-year-old does not have a future in north London – with Spurs said to be willing to move Ndombele on for the biggest offer received this summer.

While it is true that Ndombele has enjoyed something of a renaissance following his return to the south of France – having registered two assists, created two big chances and averaged a SofaScore match rating of 7.04 over his seven Ligue 1 appearances for Lyon – considering just how poor the Frenchman had been for Tottenham ever since his £63m move, it would indeed appear the right call for Conte to axe the 25-year-old this summer.

Indeed, over his nine Premier League appearances in the current campaign, the £25m-rated midfielder offered Spurs next to nothing in the middle of the park, scoring one goal, providing one assist and creating one big chance, as well as making an average of 0.4 key passes, 0.1 interceptions, 1.1 tackles, 25.6 passes and winning 3.6 duels – at a success rate of 44% – per game.

These returns saw the £120k-per-week player who John Wenham dubbed “laughable” and claimed “couldn’t be relied upon” average a quite shocking SofaScore match rating of 6.58, ranking him as Conte’s third-worst