PSG FOR POCH
Spurs’ new £65million record signing was courted by some of Europe’s top clubs, including Liverpool, Manchester United, Juventus and his hometown club Paris Saint-Germain.
But it was Spurs who landed the France midfielder from Lyon last week thanks to their Argentine trump card.
“I understand why people might be surprised I chose Tottenham,” he said. “I think it is a very good choice.
“It was deeply thought through. Tottenham have one of the best managers in the world. The fact he wants you, it makes you want to come and work with him. He was the crucial factor in my decision.
“It is difficult to describe but he knows how to touch people, to leave a mark on people. He looked me in the eyes and said: ‘Come with me, I am sure you will get better’.
“It is these types of little things that made me want to sign. I saw that he really wanted me, that he really liked me.
“PSG are a great club, in the city in which I grew up – but today, I am not disappointed. Not at all.
“Aside from football, as a man, it is better for me to go to London. It will allow me to discover a new country, a new culture of football. I am going to come out of my cocoon.”
Ndombele says he is a football addict and claims he can even remember watching strike stars Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov in action for the north London club.
“They have quite a young team, with very good players,” he said.
“When a club was a Champions League finalist this season, you have to look at their project.
“To put €70 m on the table for me, it was a strong signal.When I look at Tottenham, I see a big European club. It is another dimension. To go to the next level, it was the best choice.” The arrival of Ndombele – as a dynamic replacement for Belgian star Mousa Dembele, who left Tottenham last January to play in the Chinese Super League – is the biggest signal yet that last season’s Champions League runners-up mean business next term, after not signing a single player in the last two transfer windows.
“I have quite different qualities to the others,” said Ndombele. “Admittedly, I am joining a squad that is already in good shape.
“But I want to make my contribution.When you are a Champions League finalist, the aim has to be the next time to, as a minimum, repeat that feat. Nobody has talked to me about it but as I am a competitor, I think that the club wants to win the Champions League.”
Ndombele’s rise has been rapid. He was still playing in the French fifth division for Amiens in 2015, and admits he is driven by the fear of his career coming to a sudden stop.
“My reality of having started from the lowest point makes me think in this type of way,” he said.
He has already been compared to some of the best midfielders to grace the Premier League such as Paul Pogba, Michael Essien and N’Golo Kante.
“I am here to make my own path,” he said. “I am Tanguy, not the new Essien, not the new Pogba. There is work to do, I need to continue to hustle.
“Pogba and Kante became world champions, so automatically they are ahead of me.
“They have more experience than me too. I am eternally unsatisfied, so I will continue to learn.”