Tottenham Hotspur are now in charge of their own Champions League destiny after defeating Aston Villa 4-0 over the weekend.
The three points took Ange Postecoglou’s side to two points of fourth-placed Villa while having a game in hand.
Three of the Australian's signings got on the scoresheet: James Maddison, Brennan Johnson, and Timo Werner, which just highlights how well the club has recruited this season.
However, new players living up to their price tag hasn’t always been the case for the Lilywhites, with one player in particular now worth far less than what they once cost.
What Spurs paid for Tanguy Ndombele
Prior to his move to the Premier League, Tanguy Ndombele was thriving in France for Lyon, picking up six assists and seven assists in consecutive seasons from 2017-2019.
After the 2018/19 campaign, Spurs looked to secure themselves a midfielder to build their team around for the future, splashing a huge club-record £63m on the French star during the reign of Mauricio Pochettino.
The start to the number 28’s career at Spurs was fantastic, scoring on his competitive debut against Aston Villa, and setting up Erik Lamela’s goal in the 2-2 draw against Manchester City just a week later.
However, the rest of Ndombele’s debut campaign was hindered by multiple injuries, picking up five setbacks and missing 17 matches across all competitions.
The former Lyon star did feature much more heavily in the 2020/21 season, playing 33 matches and making 28 starts. This would be his best period at the club in terms of game time, with his career not going to plan since.
Ndombele’s transfer value in 2024
Ndombele has been starved of consistent minutes in recent years, with loan spells to Lyon and Serie A winners Napoli failing to reignite the “unplayable” talent, as he was once dubbed by Spurs correspondent Alasdair Gold, that was once displayed.
Fast forward to this season, and the 27-year-old is playing his football on loan from Spurs at Galatasaray, but unfortunately, the same old problems keep occurring.
The number 91 has suffered two different injuries this campaign, which have made him miss six matches. This has hindered his progress and seen him feature mainly as a substitute, tallying up 656 minutes across 25 matches.
These unfortunate setbacks and his inability to showcase his talent in the most elite leagues in Europe have caused Ndombele’s estimated worth to decrease significantly by £50m, to the point where he’s now valued at just £7m as per Football Transfers. Dismally, that's now even lower than another Spurs flop in Vincent Janssen, a man now plying his trade in Belgium and valued at £8.2m.
Manor Solomon
£10m
Ben Davies
£9m
Gio Lo Celso
£9m
Bryan Gil
£8m
Tanguy Ndombele
£7m
Fraser Forster
£1m
As you can see, this would only make Fraser Forster less valuable than him in the entire current Tottenham squad, with the likes of Ben Davies and Bryan Gil relatively on par.
Given that Ndombele hasn’t played a game for Spurs since 2022 and he’s still contracted to the club, it is clear that his transfer can certainly be classified as one of the biggest howlers in the club’s history.