Pundit explains why Nuno has ‘got to play’ 24-year-old despite poor form

Carlton Palmer has claimed that Nuno Espirito Santo has little choice but to keep persisting with Tanguy Ndombele given the amount of money that Tottenham invested in the midfielder.

Spurs broke their transfer record to snap up Ndombele in the summer of 2019, striking a £55m deal with Lyon for the midfielder.

While the 24-year-old’s has demonstrated glimpses of his abundance of talent at Tottenham, he has not quite managed to deliver consistently in the little over two years he has spent in North London.

According to reports, Spurs tried to cash in on Ndombele this summer after the midfielder had made it clear to the club hierarchy that he wanted to leave.

However, the French international ended up staying and he has subsequently forced himself into Nuno’s starting eleven.

Ndombele was not at his best in Tottenham’s 2-1 win over Aston Villa on Sunday but Palmer insisted the midfielder has to be given game time even if the Lilywhites want to recoup some of the money they paid for him.

The former Leeds United midfielder told Football Fancast: “I don’t know whether he’s impressing Nuno. The simple fact is they paid an awful lot of money for him and he needs to be playing football.

“If he’s not playing football, you’re not going to be able to get him out, you’re just going to lose out on the investment you’ve made in him.

“And if you’ve signed him and you think he’s going to be a good player, you’ve got to play him, it’s as simple as it is.”

Spurs Web Opinion 

On the back of our showing against Villa, one would expect Nuno to stick with a 4-2-3-1 formation going forward. So, Lo Celso and Ndombele will likely be competing for one position in the starting eleven in the coming weeks. Dele Alli has not quite done enough to justify a starting birth ahead of either of those two.

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