Italian journalist Luca Marchetti has revealed that Fabio Paratici offered Tanguy Ndombele to a number of Italian clubs this summer but only Napoli were willing to sign the midfielder.
Ndombele completed a loan move to Napoli towards the end of the summer transfer window, with The Times reporting at the time that the Serie A club have the option to buy him on a permanent basis for £25m.
The Frenchman did not have the best of starts to his spell at Naples, having been hauled off by Luciano Spalletti at half-time in his first two starts for the Serie A club.
However, Ndombele did score his first goal for the Serie A club in their Champions League clash against Rangers on Wednesday as Napoli emerged 3-0 winners after the Scottish side were reduced to ten men.
The on-loan Spurs man replaced Piotr Zielinski in the 83rd minute and rounded off the scoring at Ibrox in stoppage time. Ndombele will be hoping that the goal on Wednesday helps kickstart his career at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.
Marchetti has now explained that Napoli could take him off Tottenham’s hands for just €25m (£21.9m), which was lower than the figure reported in the English press.
The journalist told Area Napoli: “How is the redemption of Tanguy Ndombele formulated? Napoli, if they want, will be able to keep the player for around €25 million: it’s a very high ransom. The Frenchman, who was and will again be one of the best midfielders in Europe, was paid €70 million by Tottenham, let’s not forget that.
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“Right now, Spurs don’t see him. They won’t throw him away, though. Ndombele is valuable and these €25m are not random: they are the amount that Tottenham have budgeted for him. They don’t want to lose out, in short. Asking that much is a way of protecting themselves. If Ndombele were to raise at Napoli, Tottenham would collect this money and not lose out.
“Napoli has the right of redemption, not the obligation: this is another aspect to specify. Paratici chatted about him with various Italian teams in the summer: but nobody, except Napoli, was too heart-warming.”
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The Tottenham hierarchy will be desperate for Ndombele to do well at Napoli so that the Serie A club activate the option to buy him.
If the Frenchman fails in Naples, the north London club will struggle to offload him next summer, and would probably have no choice but to pay off the 25-year-old and terminate his contract.
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