Lyon head coach Peter Bosz has revealed that Tanguy Ndombele’s loan return back to the club is not complete yet despite the midfielder being in France.
The Frenchman is expected to seal a switch back to his homeland before the January transfer window closes in what is a disappointing conclusion to his initial spell in the Premier League with Tottenham.
Ndombele originally signed for a club record £53m back in July 2019 but he has failed to convince whilst in north London.
The 25-year-old has made 91 appearances for Spurs since his arrival - just 62 of those being starts - and scored only 10 goals.
He has rarely enjoyed a consistent run in the side, having failed to earn roles under a number of managers including Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and now Antonio Conte.
Ndombele is now set to return to France in an effort to reignite his career, although Bosz has confirmed that a deal is not yet complete, with only a few hours of the window left to go.
Speaking in a press conference, he said: "We are building a team that can win things. If we look at Romain Faivre and Tanguy Ndombele, we can say that they are quality players.
“But nothing is done yet. We changed the system a while ago."
Whilst Ndombele awaits official confirmation of a return to Lyon, it appears that Spurs director of football Fabio Paratici has struck a deal that could potentially see the north London club make a slight profit on the midfielder.
According to Telefoot journalist Julien Maynard, a €65m (£54m) purchase clause has been agreed between the two clubs, although a lot would certainly have to happen for that to be activated, most pressingly for Ndombele to return to the form that convinced Spurs to fork out a huge fee for his services in the first place.
Should that go through, however, the Frenchman would become Spurs’ second-most lucrative sale of all time after Real Madrid’s then world record buy of Gareth Bale in 2013 for £85m.
Whilst Ndombele has been linked with a move away, he is not the only player who could be set to wave goodbye to north London - the likes of Dele Alli, Giovani Lo Celso and Bryan Gil have been strongly linked with deals.
