Daniel Levy set for Tottenham transfer repeat as Ange Postecoglou plots summer plans

The start of July will mark five years since Tanguy Ndombele sealed a big-money move to Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham side. Excelling for Lyon in Ligue 1 and the Champions League, the midfielder was seen as a player who could help take Spurs up another level after reaching the final of Europe's premier competition a month earlier.

Very much viewed as one for the long-term at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Frenchman penned a six-year contract in N17. This July will see Ndombele enter the final year of his Tottenham deal.

Showing glimpses of his quality on a few occasions, the 27-year-old's Spurs transfer has been an undoubted failure, especially given the eye-watering fee of around £60million that they paid Lyon for his services. Ndombele has had ample chances to salvage his Tottenham career but he has never grasped them with both hands.

That explains why he has spent the past two-and-a-half seasons away from the club on loan. Again given opportunities to impress and get his career back on track, Ndombele once again faces a crucial summer in his career with current club Galatasaray extremely unlikely to activate the €15m (£12.8m) purchase option in their loan agreement with Tottenham.

Ndombele has just not done enough to justify a permanent move to the Turkish giants, so far playing 661 minutes across 26 games for the club following his loan switch. Nineteen of those appearances have come in the Super Lig, with only four of them from the start and the player only managing to play the full 90 minutes on two occasions.

It just shows how far his stock has fallen over the past few years and it leaves Daniel Levy and Johan Lange with quite the predicament on their hands ahead of a pivotal summer for the club. If indeed Ndombele is to be back at Hotspur Way in July with Galatasaray not taking up that purchase option, the Longjumeau-born player could still return with another two winners medals in his possession after already winning the Turkish Super Cup at the beginning of the month in quite remarkable circumstances.

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Playing a bit-part role in Napoli's Serie A title success 12 months ago as they won their first Scudetto in 33 years, Ndombele could be on course to collect another medal with Galatasaray holding a two-point advantage over rivals Fenerbahce at the top of Super Lig with six games of the term remaining. The two sides do play each other in the penultimate round of league fixtures, though, and it promises to be a fascinating contest with the league title on the line.

Quite how much football Ndombele gets in the weeks ahead remains to be seen. The midfielder is literally just getting minutes here and there at the end of league fixtures, with the player introduced for the final five minutes of Monday's 4-0 win over Alanyaspor.

Ndombele has not made his case for a permanent Galatasaray deal and it will once again leave Tottenham in a familiar situation when it comes to trying to offload him for the third summer on the trot.

Clubs unfortunately aren't going to be queuing up for the Frenchman going on three extremely underwhelming loan spells but Tottenham somehow need to find a way of parting with the ex-Lyon man for good as he is not in Ange Postecoglou's plans. If a permanent buyer cannot be found, Spurs could be faced with the scenario of having to agree a deal to release him from the final 12 months of his Tottenham contract.

Whatever happens with Ndombele over the coming months, the player's transfer to Spurs has been a complete disaster for all involved. It really is a huge few months coming up in the career of Ndombele as he looks to salvage what is left of it.

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