Tanguy Ndombele is not a player that Tottenham Hotspur are looking to sell this summer despite interest from Inter Milan, football.london understands.
Rarely a week goes by without the 23-year-old being linked with clubs in Europe, most notably Inter, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
The Inter Milan links have intensified in recent days with some reports from France claiming that a deal was close to be agreed for the young Frenchman.
football.london understands that while Inter have shown an interest in the central midfielder, Tottenham are making it clear that Ndombele is not one of the players they are looking to sell this summer and that no dialogue is taking place about his departure from the club.
The belief inside Spurs is that the talented Frenchman simply needs more time to settle in England, having moved away from his family, and adjust to the demands of the Premier League and to get over the niggling injuries that have fragmented his first season.
Tottenham have a history of players taking a little while to adapt to life at the club and in the country, Son Heung-min the most recent example with the South Korean asking to leave the north London outfit after his first season.
Ndombele has struggled for game time under Jose Mourinho as he looks to meet the demands of the Spurs boss who has focused on improving the defensive deficiencies first within his team.
Tottenham need to raise funds to bring in new players this summer but after paying out a club record fee for Ndombele just over 12 months ago, the Frenchman is not one of those chairman Daniel Levy is looking to move on to bolster the coffers.
Juan Foyth has been linked with a move away from Spurs this summer, as have returning loan players Danny Rose, Kyle Walker-Peters and Cameron Carter-Vickers.
Serge Aurier is also the subject of interest from AC Milan, who wanted to sign the right-back last summer from Tottenham after he asked the club to leave.
Selling both Aurier and Walker-Peters would leave Tottenham with two right-back slots to fill unless Mourinho decided the versatile Japhet Tanganga was able to provide regular back-up in the role.
Other potential departures will be dictated by how many of Mourinho's transfer targets can be realised as players and the club naturally reassess their positions.
