A major update has emerged on Tottenham Hotspur star Tanguy Ndombele...

What's the word?

The 24-year-old did not feature in their final pre-season friendly against Arsenal over the weekend but it has been revealed that his absence was not injury-related.

According to The Athletic's Charlie Eccleshare, the French midfielder was available to face their arch-rivals but he was "simply not selected" by manager Nuno Santo.

"He's now considering his options ahead of the transfer window closing," the reliable journalist added.

Time to act?

Despite not being in France's Euro 2020 squad, Ndombele has not played a single minute throughout pre-season. He's also been training in recent weeks, having returned from a period of paternity leave, so this is certainly a strange situation.

You'd imagine that his prospects of being involved for their opener against Manchester City on Sunday are rather slim at this stage and it now leaves Nuno and sporting director Fabio Paratici with an interesting decision to make, with three weeks to go in the transfer window.

The 5 foot 11 maestro cost a club-record £55m two summers ago and is on wages of £200k-per-week but glimpses of his true potential have been far and few between.

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There's no denying that he's amongst Spurs' most technically gifted talents, though there are evidently application issues that have led to club legend Graham Roberts dubbing him as "a joke" on Twitter.

Now valued at £45m, Ndombele has only provided eight goals and eight assists in 75 appearances, averaging a direct contribution every 267 minutes, as per Transfermarkt.

In 2020/21, he rated behind many of Spurs' other midfield options for creativity, having managed only 0.6 key passes per 90 minutes. A worse rate than his rivals in the attacking midfield role, including Giovani Lo Celso (1.4), Dele Alli (1.3) and even Lucas Moura (one), via WhoScored.

Is it now time to act?

Well, Ndombele has been given two years to settle in and it's clear that not much has changed. Many lambasted Jose Mourinho for his treatment of the box-to-box dynamo but it seems as if he had very just reasons.

This situation is at risk of bubbling over into another unnecessary saga and one that Nuno does not need as he embarks on his first competitive match in charge of the Lilywhites.

Should a suitable offer come in for Ndombele, then Paratici and co must absolutely consider cutting their losses - just as Roberts says, this has now become an absolute joke in North London.

The Frenchman's lasting legacy at Spurs is likely to be more akin to that of Adel Taarabt rather than a Gareth Bale or a Christian Eriksen. Not what you want from a club-record signing.

AND in other news, Nuno set for huge Spurs boost as encouraging Hotspur Way development emerges...