Former Spur suggests Jose Mourinho may have aimed a dig at Daniel Levy

Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Tom Huddlestone has suggested that Jose Mourinho’s public comments about Tanguy Ndombele could have been aimed towards chairman Daniel Levy.

The 23-year-old was hauled off 45 minutes into a rare Tottenham start in their 1-1 draw with Burnley on Saturday with Mourinho having blasted the Frenchman’s performance after the Premier League encounter at Turf Moor (Sky Sports).

The Portuguese stated that he cannot keep giving Ndombele opportunities to play following his lethargic performance.

Huddlestone believes that Mourinho’s comments could be aimed at the Spurs officials and North London faithful to highlight Ndombele’s issues as a way of saying that the players are not up to the required standards.

The 33-year-old, who now plays for Derby County also suggested that Mourinho’s words are a sly dig ahead of the summer transfer window to help force his chairman to spend money on improving his squad.

Ndombele was left on the bench for Tuesday’s Champions League exit at RB Leipzig.

“For a manager to publicly criticise a player, you would expect he has explored every other avenue,” Huddlestone told BBC Radio 5 Live (10/03/20 at 19:25 pm).

“Speaking to him one-on-one, in front of the group etc..

“But equally, I think that could be a message to the board or the fans to say ‘this is your big-money summer signing or club-record signing and he’s not up to the level I am after’. Meaning that the rest of the players, which are cheaper and probably a bit less more experience probably aren’t up to the standards he wants [either].

“It could be a Mourinho classic sly-dig at to the board and planting a few seeds ready for the summer, so Daniel Levy can get the cheque book out.”

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