Time for Tanguy Ndombele to kickstart Tottenham career at struggling Villa

In the summer of 2018, Tottenham were the frontrunners to sign Jack Grealish from Aston Villa. A playoff final defeat at the hands of Fulham earlier that year appeared to signal the beginning of the end for the midfielder's time with the Villans. The club's precarious financial position meant promotion was seen as the be all and end all for Villa, who failed to overcome the Cottagers at Wembley. 

Unsurprisingly, Spurs supremo Daniel Levy looked to play the waiting game with Villa in his efforts to negotiate the fee down. It proved to be his downfall. While former Villa chairman Tony Xia was under pressure to raise funds, investment arrived courtesy of new majority shareholders Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, which itself scuppered Spurs' hopes of signing Grealish. The rest, as they say, is history. 

Grealish played a key role in Villa's promotion last year and remains their star man as they look to consolidate a spot in England's top tier. The 24-year-old's WhoScored rating of 7.42 is among the top 10 players in the Premier League this season and while he started the campaign slowly, Grealish looks fully up to speed and firing on all cylinders. Indeed, four of his eight lowest rated performances in a Premier League match this season came in August, one of which came in the 3-1 defeat to Tottenham on the opening weekend of the campaign. 

Conversely, that same game marked one of Tanguy Ndombele's best rated Premier League performances in a Spurs shirt. The Frenchman marked his full debut with a second half equaliser, kicking off a trend that saw four of Spurs' five summer arrivals net on their full debut with Jack Clarke the exception, as Ndombele returned a WhoScored rating of 7.58 in the victory. A failure to sign Grealish, though, is very much a sliding doors moment for both clubs. Had Spurs secured Grealish's services in 2018, then it's unlikely they would have paid Lyon a club-record £54m to sign Ndombele last summer. 

Since that match, however, their fortunes couldn't be more contrasting. Grealish has established himself as one of the Premier League's top performers while Ndombele has made just 10 league starts this season. Injuries have dented the latter's impact in England, but there is no denying the France international is a world class performer when fully fit. 

Indeed, his eye-of-the-needle pass for Son Heung-Min to double Spurs' advantage in the 2-0 win over Manchester City reinforced a statistically calculated WhoScored strength of 'key passes' and having taken the shot that forced Jack Stephens' own goal in their 3-2 FA Cup win over Southampton last week, the 23-year-old must be hoping Sunday's trip to Villa will provide him with the foundation to flourish in the remaining months of the campaign. 

Fine league showings against Southampton and City provided supporters with a glimpse of Ndombele's immense talent and it's a shame that injuries have dented his settling in period in England. A change in manager didn't aid his cause either, but head coach Jose Mourinho recently praised Ndombele, stating: "He is a player with amazing quality." 

Whereas some may have feared fitness concerns would leave Ndombele on the outside looking in, with Mourinho a manager who likes his players to play through the pain threshold, a fight-or-flight approach that has been criticised in the past, Mourinho's admission has been welcomed by Spurs fans. With the Portuguese boss transitioning his side towards a 4-3-3 system, with January arrival Steven Bergwijn featuring alongside Lucas Moura and Son Heung-Min on the frontline in the absence of Harry Kane, he needs his midfielders to provide the link between midfield the attack. 

In the wake of Christian Eriksen's move to Inter, Mourinho is no longer able to call upon a number 10 in the traditional sense, but he can count upon Ndombele and fellow summer capture Giovani Lo Celso as two players able to bring possession forward from deep. Indeed, Ndombele is completing more dribbles per 90 (3.5) than any other Spurs player, a metric Lo Celso (1.9) ranks fourth for. And with Dele Alli currently in hot water for a social media post, Ndombele will fancy his chances of making his first league start since New Year's Day at Villa Park on Sunday. 

In what has been a stop-start beginning to life in London, the winter break will have benefitted Ndombele more than most as he seeks to consolidate a starting berth for Mourinho's side. And what better place to do so than at Villa Park, facing an opponent he bagged his first Premier League goal against. Spurs' away form may have been sub-par this season, but if Ndombele can ensure he made the most of the winter break then that road record will improve before the campaign draws to a close in a developing 4-3-3 system that plays to the Frenchman's strengths in his bid to showcase his peak Lyon form.

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