Get French Football News writer Adam White insists that Tanguy Ndombele has lost the “ferocity” he showed at Lyon amid reports that his future at Tottenham Hotspur is currently in doubt.

Ndombele did not play a single minute for the club in pre-season, and was left out of the squad for the prestige friendly with Arsenal at the weekend, a game that Spurs won 1-0 without him.

New manager Nuno Espirito Santo has revealed that the Frenchman is not injured and he is subsequently unlikely to play against Manchester City in the Premier League opener this weekend, due to his lack of preparatory minutes.

Ndombele did report late for pre-season training due to his paternity leave, but his absence against Arsenal has again thrust his future into the spotlight.

He remains Spurs’ record signing, with the club having paid £53.8m to sign him from Lyon, but he somewhat struggled for consistency last season, making 28 league starts and completing the 90 minutes in the Premier League just six times.

And White, who also covers Ligue 1 for The Guardian, does not think he is the same player he was when he played for Lyon, a club for whom he made 96 appearances.

He said: “His demeanour seems to have changed a little bit at Tottenham.

“There was an intensity to his play at Lyon, the way that he would surge forward and the way he carried the ball, there was an intensity to that.

“I think at Tottenham, whether that’s coaching, whether that’s the Premier League, whether that’s the big move he’s had between the two clubs, it seems to have lessened a little bit.

“Maybe that’s just that he’s been asked to do a different role but that’s my take on the Ndombele at Tottenham situation. He doesn’t seem to have that ferocity that he had at Lyon.”