No Ndombele as Spurs’ record buy looks for move

Tanguy Ndombele has told Tottenham Hotspur that he wants to leave this month, as head coach Nuno Espirito Santo said the midfielder would again be left out of the team tomorrow.

Tottenham’s club-record signing did not feature in any of his side’s pre-season fixtures this summer and was not included in their squads to face Manchester City or Pacos de Ferreira this week.

Tottenham will demand around £51.5million for the 24-year-old, who joined from Lyon for a clubrecord fee of roughly £55 million in the summer of 2019.

Ahead of Tottenham’s trip to Wolves tomorrow, Nuno said Ndombele would again be left out of his squad. “Tanguy is not going to be involved on Sunday,” Nuno said.

Pressed on the reasons for the midfielder’s ongoing absence, Nuno said: “What I can tell you is that Tanguy is with us, he works but we have to speak honestly. The best out of Tanguy has to come from himself. I don’t want to go much further than that.

“I said it before, my job here is not to convince players to play for Tottenham Hotspur, it is to prepare players to play for Tottenham Hotspur.”

Nuno added that he would decide today whether to include Harry Kane in the squad, as the striker continues to build up his fitness. Kane, who wants to move to Manchester City, has not been involved in either of Tottenham’s first two games of the season.

“He trained well today,” Nuno said. “He is better than yesterday. It is a growing process. Each day he goes on the pitch he improves his fitness. It is a decision we are going to take tomorrow.”

On Kane’s future, Nuno added: “There is not much more that I can add that I have not already said.”