Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy tells Tanguy Ndombele 'only you can turn this around' in final Amazon episode

Ndombele met with Levy to discuss his struggles in his first season in north London.
Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images
Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP11 September 2020

The final episode of Amazon Prime's fly-on-the-wall documentary of Tottenham's 2019-20 season depicts a meeting between chairman Daniel Levy and the club's record-signing, Tanguy Ndombele.

A sulky Ndombele, aided by a player liaison officer, complains to Levy that there is more to his absence from the team than meets the eye.

"For three months I trained hard," Ndombele tells Levy in French. "Everybody says I trained really well, but if I don't play it means there must be something else."

Levy advises Ndombele, through player liaison Roberto Balbontin, that it is normal for players to struggle in their first season but warns him: "Only you can turn this around."

Balbontin translates: "Like he [Levy] said, Tanguy, it's for you to overcome this thing. The first year is very complicated my friend. Put a line under it. This is the future, that is the past and look ahead."

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It is a message that could easily apply to the club as a whole and exactly the mantra being adopted by Jose Mourinho ahead of his first full season in charge.

Mourinho never recognised the legitimacy of last season's highs and lows after he replaced Mauricio Pochettino in November, with Spurs already 11 points adrift of fourth place and out of one domestic cup.

He even refused to acknowledge the Premier League restart as a new beginning, despite benefitting from a fully fit squad and a mini pre-season with his players, because, in his eyes, the damage had already been done under his predecessor.

Mourinho has longed for a clean slate and a level playing field, which has finally arrived with the delayed start to this hectic season.

Only now, Mourinho believes, can he be judged fairly.

And it is not particularly difficult to say what success looks like for the Spurs manager this season. He will be expected to mount a credible top four challenge, as well as finally ending the club's wait for a trophy, which now extends well beyond a decade. He was, quite simply, appointed to deliver silverware.

Mourinho's transfer business so far reflects the urgency of that aim.

Pochettino's final signings – Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso, Ryan Sessegnon and Jack Clarke – were all likely to take time to peak but this summer's early additions are all battle-ready in former Southampton captain Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, title-winner Joe Hart and right-back Matt Doherty.

The trio are no shrinking violets, either, and a theme of Amazon's documentary has been Mourinho's attempts to instil a nasty edge to his "nice" squad, which he believes will foster a winning mentality.

In Pictures | Tottenham in training | 08/09/2020

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Despite a biblical spate of injuries to leading players, Mourinho guided Spurs to 13 wins and six draws from 26 games last season – decent going – and they finished the campaign unbeaten in six matches, including well-coached wins over Arsenal and Leicester.

As ever with Spurs, their remaining transfers business could yet have a significant bearing on their fortunes, with an understudy to Harry Kane a priority given the sheer relentlessness of their likely schedule.

Ndombele, meanwhile, remains one of their most intriguing subplots and harnessing the midfielder's mercurial talent will be one of his manager's biggest challenges.

Mourinho should, at least, have appreciated Ndombele's riposte to Levy, captured by Amazon's cameras.

"I'm a fighter," Ndombele tells the chairman. "I've always fought. I'm here today because I fought. I have never given up in football or in life."

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