After a 17-month hiatus, Tottenham are seemingly dipping their toes in the transfer market as favourites to sign Lyon wonderkid Tanguy Ndombele, as per the Independent.

Tottenham Hotspur have apparently opened talks with Lyon over Ndombele, and while Manchester United and Juventus are both also reportedly keen on the player, Spurs are said to be favourites to sign him this summer.

Mauricio Pochettino is understandably keen to complete the £60 million deal after last season’s disappointment which saw them reach the Champions League final in emphatic style but never really showed enough bite when it really mattered. And if Christian Eriksen leaves this summer, which he has publicly admitted to wanting to do, the importance of signing a new creative maestro to fill his 17-assists void has been increased ten-fold.

In step Ndombele.

According to WhoScored, and using Eriksen as a standard, the impressive French youngster donned an average of 57.7 passes per game last season at a success rate of 89.1% (much higher than Eriksen’s 81%) - 1.4 of which were key passes, and seven directly resulted in a goal. His offensive stats certainly aren’t anything to baulk at either, with Ndombele managing 1.9 successful dribbles per game compared to the Dane’s 0.5; not to mention the number of times he’s fouled (2.1) which goes some way towards indicating how tricky the 22-year-old is and how much of a threat the opposition see him as.

Spurs currently only have Eric Dier, Victor Wanyama and Moussa Sissoko at their disposal in the centre of the park (excluding Eriksen), all of whom are hardly the most threatening players – with four goals and three assists between them. And while Dele Alli can drop back, it makes sense to introduce someone of Ndombele’s attacking ability to lessen the burden.

Considering the other clubs mentioned in the report, pulling off this deal would be a major coup after such a lack of arrivals in the past 18 months or so. Last season, Liverpool recovered from losing the Champions League final by signing Fabinho. If Tottenham do the same with Ndombele, it would kick the summer off in the best possible fashion.

Spurs fans, do you think Ndombele will be a successful signing? How many positions do you need to strengthen this summer? Let us know in the comments below...