Jamie Carragher believes that Jose Mourinho's outburst about the performance of Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Tanguy Ndombele following the 1-1 draw with Burnley on Saturday was a message to the club's chairman Daniel Levy.
Portuguese coach Mourinho, who will take his Spurs side to the Red Bull Arena to face RB Leipzig in the second-leg of their UEFA Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday evening, hung Ndombele out to dry after the game at Turf Moor, as he tore into the Frenchman's performance.
The Spurs manager had taken Ndombele off at half time after a below-par performance in the opening 45 minutes, with his lack of movement and energy proving to be a big concern for Mourinho.
Carragher, however, does not believe that it was just that 45-minute performance that led Mourinho into letting rip about Ndombele, insisting that he believes it had been brewing for some time.
As well as that, the former Liverpool man also suggested that Mourinho's comments were aimed in the direction of chairman Levy, highlighting the fact that he wants better players.
Carragher told Sky Sports: "I think with Jose, you ask Sven [Goran Eriksson] about what is the message, I think in this situation there is only ever two messages.
"Message number one is to the player: you have to change and do something different. The next is to the owner. This player isn't good enough.
"I don’t care if he cost £60million... he’s the record buy. He is not good enough for my team and I need funds for the summer. They are the two messages.
"If you are asking me if it is for the player or the owner, then it is for the owner. I don't think there is no future for Ndombele. I think he has started five games under Jose Mourinho.
"He doesn't like him and this criticism will not be because of that 45 minutes. There is no way Ndombele is running around in training if he is doing that in a game. So he must be very lazy in a game and Jose just snapped and had enough."
