By Daily Sports on December 28, 2019

Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho hopes club-record signing Tanguy Ndombele will declare himself fit to play at Norwich on Saturday.

The Spurs boss has revealed that the French midfielder asked not to be included for Thursday’s Boxing Day win over Brighton as he was concerned he might not be fit.

But he has trained since and now Mourinho is looking to help him fill a midfield gap caused by the absence of the suspended Harry Winks and Moussa Sissoko, while Son Heung-min is also serving a ban and Dele Alli looked to be struggling in the latter stages against the Seagulls.

Mourinho, asked if he was upset by the decision of Ndombele, whose transfer from Lyon could yet cost Spurs some €70 million, to make himself unavailable against Brighton, answered: “I think Ndombele was honest. Football players like to play football.

“For him to say, ‘I don’t feel confident, I don’t feel in the best condition due to my previous injuries’, he was just being honest.

“And we had solutions. We had (Eric) Dier, we had (Harry) Winks, we have (Oliver) Skipp who is a great kid fighting to improve, for a place.

“I hope Friday morning after training he can come back to me and say ‘I’m ready to help the team’.”

Erik Lamela, however, had no qualms about throwing back himself into the fray, even though he has been sidelined since October with a hamstring injury.

After only two sessions under Mourinho, he told the Portuguese manager he was ready to play against Brighton if needed. (ESPN)

•PHOTO: Tanguy Ndombele 

Source Daily Sports

Posted December 28, 2019

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