According to a Sky Sports report (via France Football), Manchester United are the ‘most determined‘ club in Europe currently being linked with Olympique Lyonnais midfielder Tanguy Ndombele.

What would Man United be getting if they did indeed purchase the French international?

Well they’d be getting a youngster full of potential.

At just just twenty-one years of age, Ndombele has made over fifty Ligue 1 appearances and has four senior caps to his name. This season he’s looked good in his five Champions League outings.

The central midfielder can also operate as a defensive midfielder. In European football this term, Tanguy has made on average 2.2 tackles per game and that’s better than any United player (in the same competition).

It’s his composure and his passing skill-set that seems to make the Lyon man are star in the making.

The midfielder’s fairly strong when on the ball, he’s also smart enough to know where teammates and opponents are and that allows him to make great passes and dodge challenges. Ndombele also posses great close control and that sees him to get out of pressured situations in the busy engine room.

When you look at the stats at Whoscored, you’ll notice how successful the Frenchman’s passing ability has been during this campaign.

In Ligue 1 this term, the middleman has a 89.1% passing success rate. Only Memphis Depay has bettered the twenty-one year old’s four assists so far this season. On average he’s making 52.1 passes per top flight game and around 1.4 key passes.

Ndombele is also a player for the bigger occasions. He produced two assists in Lyon’s win over Marseille and grabbed goals in both Champions League matches against Bundesliga cracks Hoffenheim.

Against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side last month; no OL player made as many passes, had as many accurate passes or as many touches of the ball as Tanguy Ndombele.

We know Man United boss Jose Mourinho wants more balance in his midfield. He’s stated in The Independent that midfield summer signing Fred can’t currently get into the starting line-up because the team isn’t solid enough defensively:

“I think Fred, when the team is defensively stronger, and does not need him in midfield – people that are more worried in giving some balance to the team than being involved in creation and attacking dynamics – the day we are stronger defensively, the horizons for Fred change completely.”

Ndombele could give them added steel as well as his eye for a pass in deeper positions. That could allow Jose to get more out of Fred or Paul Pogba.

One sticking point could be getting Lyon agreeing to a deal that will see them losing a prized asset. If the French side win their last group game, then they’re into the knock stages of the Champions League and they might be more inclined to keep all their players for that and only sell talent in the summer.

We all know OL President Jean-Michel Aulas is a very tough negotiator. It’s already being rumoured in media outlets like The Mirror, that the Ligue 1 club want £90m for the midfielder.

Would Man United be ready to fork out such a hefty sum for a twenty-one year old that hasn’t played too many Champions League games? His age and ability would maybe convince him he’s worth the risk but if they may worry that he won’t hit his full potential!

The player himself might think twice about moving to Old Trafford given that compatriots Anthony Martial and Pogba seem to have frosty relationships with their manager.

It would be an interesting move if it were to happen but I think there’s still a few hurdles to leap over before we can say a move is imminent. Definitely one to keep an eye on.

 

Posted on December 11th, 2018 by scott
Filed under: Article