Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly discussing the possibility of terminating Tanguy Ndombele's contract at the club.
The 26-year-old remains the Lilywhites' most expensive signing of all time, joining for a £54.9m fee from Lyon in the summer of 2019.
However, Ndombele's time in North London has been nothing short of nightmarish, having failed to win over Mauricio Pochettino, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte.
The Frenchman was subsequently shipped back to Lyon on loan for the second half of the 2021-22 season, making 15 appearances and helping Les Gones reach the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
Lyon unsurprisingly passed up their option to re-sign Ndombele for the record fee that they sold him for, though, and the midfielder subsequently returned to Spurs before joining Napoli on a season-long loan.
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Ndombele has featured regularly for the Partenopei during the 2022-23 season, coming up with two goals and one assist from 38 games in a bid to reignite his career in Europe.
Ndombele played in all but one of Napoli's Champions League games en route to the quarter-finals and could end the weekend as a Serie A winner, as Napoli sit 17 points clear in first place with seven games left to play.
However, the seven-cap France international has only made seven appearances from the first whistle in the Italian top flight, and Napoli are unlikely to exercise their option to sign him permanently for £26.6m.
As a result, Ndombele is due to return to North London for pre-season and has two years left to run on his Spurs terms, but Football Insider claims that the Lilywhites have held talks over ripping up his contract.
Ndombele is thought to be collecting £200,000 per week in the English capital, but Spurs were initially optimistic that a positive loan spell in Italy could open the door for a permanent sale this summer.
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Such hopes have since been extinguished, though, and the Lilywhites hierarchy have apparently accepted that they will no longer receive a substantial fee for his services.
Rather than wait to see if he could turn his fortunes around under a new manager, the club could therefore take drastic action and terminate Ndombele's deal, meaning that the midfielder would be due a significant payoff.
Ndombele has amassed 10 goals and nine assists from 91 games in a Tottenham shirt since joining in 2019, but he has not played for the Lilywhites since a 3-1 FA Cup win over Morecambe in January 2022.
Ndombele is not the only Spurs midfielder who could be on the way out this summer, as Harry Winks - currently on loan with Serie A basement boys Sampdoria - is facing an uncertain future as well.
The 27-year-old only has one year left to run on his Tottenham contract and recently admitted that nobody from the North London club had been in contact with him during his time in Italy.
Ben Knapton
