‘He can do better’ – Mourinho gives honest assessment of Ndombele and his potential

Tottenham Hotspur head coach, Jose Mourinho has claimed that Tanguy Ndombele can still do more and reach a better level of fitness in a Lilywhite shirt.

The Frenchman has enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance this season in North London, now seemingly one of the first names on Mourinho’s teamsheet.

Spurs’ record signing has come far since the end of last season when he struggled to get a kick of the ball. Ndombele admitted recently that he even considered leaving Tottenham in the summer transfer window (Canal Plus – via L’Equipe).

Mourinho publicly called the midfielder out after hooking him at half-time against Burnley back in March (Independent), but Ndombele has come a long way since then.

In fact, he is now so pivotal to the Spurs transition that Mourinho claimed the side missed him last Thursday in the loss against Royal Antwerp (Football.London).

Jose also admitted that he is not at Tottenham to be the players’ best friend, but instead to educate them and fight against any negative state of minds.

He said (Football London): “I like my relationship with the players to not depend on the fact that they’re playing or not playing, but sometimes there are players that by their personalities who change their relations, not just with the coach but with other people in the group.

“That was not the case with Tanguy. The case with Tanguy was probably myself not being happy at all with what he was giving us and my way to show it is obviously fighting a lot against that state of mind.

“In this moment, I’m happy. I still think he can do better. His potential is huge. So is he doing well? Yes. Am I happy with him? Yes, I’m happy with him but I still think that he can do more. He can be fitter, he can give us 90 minutes without problems. He can be better than he is.

“Of course, he’s happy because he’s playing, I’m happy because he’s doing important things. I see the future probably better because as I was saying his potential is great, but I have to try to educate players, I have to try to give my best.

“I’m not here to be their best friend, I’m here to be their coach above all and I will never be different to what I am. So when I’m not happy I’m not happy. At this moment I’m very happy with him.”

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