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Football London
Football London
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Rob Guest

Tanguy Ndombele on adapting to the Premier League, taking English classes and life at Tottenham

Spurs should have Tanguy Ndombele back on the pitch very soon after his recent absence from the first team.

Signed in a club-record move from Lyon at the start of July, the midfielder made an instant impression at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as he netted on his home debut against Aston Villa.

Playing the full 90 minutes in the next game at Man City, Mauricio Pochettino has been without the player over the past couple of weeks after he picked up a minor thigh injury in training at Hotspur Way.

Ndombele has started life in England quite well and he will only improve with the more minutes he gets under his belt in the Premier League.

Sitting down to talk to compatriot, and translator since moving to N17, Moussa Sissoko, the French international opened up on how he's adapting to life in the capital and his ambitions in a video published on Spurs' Twitter page.

With Sissoko joking that he is now sick of translating for his new teammate, Ndombele said: "I'm glad for your help! But yes we're doing some good work on it.

"I'm understanding things better. I can speak a few words. I'm learning through training so I am able to work.

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Asked if he is taking classes, he said: "Yes, twice a week. They are going OK."

Apart from Sissoko taking him under his wing from his very first day at the club, what has also helped Ndombele is the support from the club's fans and the rest of the squad.

"Things have been going well," he added. "Everyone has given me a warm welcome, the fans have welcome me too, so yes things are going well.

"Everybody has welcomed me into the team, that is the most important thing when you are a new arrival.

"Everything is going well so far."

Tanguy Ndombele is greeted by Mauricio Pochettino after coming off on his Premier League debut against Aston Villa (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)

A number of foreign players do tend to take quite a while to get fully up to speed with life in the Premier League given the pace of the game.

That is one thing the summer signing has noticed since his debut against Aston Villa, although what has probably helped him out is that Spurs and former club Lyon do have similar styles of play.

"No between Tottenham and Lyon there's not really a great deal of difference," said the 22-year-old  "They are both teams that play with the ball.

"The big difference between the Premier League and Ligue 1 is the speed.

"Here in the Premier League it is always a fast paced game. The players drive forward, but in France there are periods of calm. That is the big difference."

Finally, Ndombele was asked about his goals over the rest of the season as he bids to help the club end their barren run without a trophy come May.

"I'm not the kind of person who sets themselves any limits," said the Frenchman. "We are going to try to go as far as we can and try to achieve something.

"The season is long and I hope we can achieve to the best of our abilities."

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