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Tanguy Ndombele closes in on another title, busy Djed Spence and the Alejo Veliz mess

Tanguy Ndombele has failed to make his mark for Galatasaray and that has resulted in a lot speculation over an early Tottenham return
Tanguy Ndombele has failed to make his mark for Galatasaray but could end up with a title winner's medal -Credit:Mateusz Slodkowski/Getty Images


Some of Tottenham's loan players found their spells away from the club coming to an end while others are closing in on their final dramatic games of the campaign.

The 2023/24 season is now in its final weeks, which means the north London outfit's big group of loan players, young and old, are all aiming to return to the club with their heads held high before seeing what the future holds. Spurs have players out on loan across England in the Premier League and Football League as well as abroad in countries such as Spain, Turkey, the Netherlands and Italy.

Eric Dier and Ivan Perisic also went on loan to Bayern Munich and Hajduk Split respectively. The former is through to the Champions League semi-finals this week against Real Madrid and the latter is back in action with five substitute appearances following his cruciate ligament injury. Both players have agreed to join those clubs permanently this summer when their contracts at the north London club come to an end.

Here's how all of Spurs' other 12 loan players have got on over the past week:

Tanguy Ndombele (Galatasaray)

Tanguy Ndombele's dismal time in Turkey continued as he was an unused substitute again for Galatasaray. This week he watched on from the bench as they won 3-0 at Adana Demirspor.

Ndombele looks set to add a Turkish Super Lig title to his CV, to go with last season's Serie A one with Napoli, with Galatasaray four points clear at the top of the table ahead of Fenerbahce. However, it will be another season when the midfielder has barely contributed.

The Frenchman has played five minutes of football since mid-March and 31 minutes in the Turkish Super Lig since the end of January. In total he has managed 454 minutes of league football and 661 minutes across all competitions in 26 appearances. To put that into some context, Ivan Perisic has played around 300 minutes this season, despite missing most of it with that cruciate ligament injury, and with four games to go could end up matching Ndombele's league total if he plays most of them for Hajduk Split.

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Djed Spence (Genoa)

Djed Spence got another half hour of Serie A football to his name this week. The 23-year-old came on in the 74th minute at right wing-back for Genoa in their 3-0 home win against Cagliari on Monday night.

Spence had a busy spell after coming on, touching the ball 21 times, going on one dribble, making two tackles, blocking one Cagliari shot, getting fouled twice and completing 81.8% of his 11 passes.

The full-back has so far played in 12 matches in Serie A, getting 600 minutes under his belt, which is far more than he got in total across his time at Leeds this season and last season at Tottenham.

Sergio Reguilon (Brentford)

Sergio Reguilon suffered his first defeat in more than a month at Brentford as they went down 1-0 at Everton in the Premier League on Saturday.

The Spaniard played 77 minutes at Goodison Park and made two key passes, two dribbles, had one shot, won one aerial duel, made three tackles, one interception, one clearances and blocked two Everton shots having picked up a yellow card just before half-time.

The 27-year-old has now racked up 25 appearances this season across his time at Brentford and previously Manchester United, laying on four assists since joining up with Thomas Frank's men.

With a year left on his contract at Tottenham, Reguilon is not part of Ange Postecoglou's plans for next season but is making his case for a good transfer elsewhere in the summer. The local media around Brentford have suggested that his wages at the north London club, double what the highest earners at his loan side make, will make any potential permanent move there difficult.

Alejo Veliz (Sevilla)

Alejo Veliz remains an unused part of Quique Sanchez Flores's Sevilla side to continue his mess of a loan spell. The young forward was kept on the bench for the home win against Mallorca in La Liga and then the 1-1 draw at Real Betis.

The 20-year-old striker has played just 23 minutes for Sevilla since joining in the winter transfer window and has not got on the pitch since March 2, suggesting he would have been better served by remaining at Tottenham and continuing to adapt to the English game.

Troy Parrott (Excelsior Rotterdam)

Troy Parrott will return to action for Excelsior Rotterdam next Monday against NEC after he served his suspension last week in the draw at Ajax after his red card against Volendam the previous weekend in a display that had everything with a goal, assist and a strange dismissal after the final whistle.

The Republic of Ireland international was handed a post-match red card after appearing to pull or flick the ear of Volendam player Safouane Karim. The Irishman got a straight red card, while Karim received a second yellow card for his part in a melee just before.

There was a fear that Excelsior could lose Parrott for up to three matches, a blow when he has provided eight goals and four assists in 22 matches in the Dutch league. However, instead the 22-year-old received a one-game ban with another suspended, which the Rotterdam club agreed to.

Joe Rodon (Leeds United)

It's all gone a bit off course for Leeds and Joe Rodon in recent weeks as they have had a major wobble just as the Championship season was coming to its business end.

After a great run of form beforehand, Leeds have won just one of their past five matches and Friday night collapsed to a 4-0 hammering at now 17th-placed QPR.

It's not over yet though in terms of automatic promotion as Leeds sit second on goal difference ahead of Ipswich, who have a game in hand which comes on Tuesday night at ninth-placed Coventry.

The final games of the season will see Leeds host fourth-placed Southampton in a tricky finale while Ipswich welcome second from bottom Huddersfield.

Rodon was handed a four in Leeds Live's player ratings from the heavy defeat at QPR with the review: "Just about dealt with his bread and butter in the air when QPR went long to Lyndon Dykes, but he was among the shaky ones in the opening 30 minutes. No glaring role in either of the early concessions."

The 26-year-old Wales defender has played 46 times for Leeds this season as a near ever-present with 4,024 minutes to his name in a busy and mostly successful campaign.

Japhet Tanganga (Millwall)

Japhet Tanganga's excellent spell in the Championship at Millwall continued as he recorded his third clean sheet in four matches at the heart of the defence.

Millwall have been a vastly improved outfit under Neil Harris and the 25-year-old centre-back has revelled in the regular football since returning from a game-less half season in Germany at Augsburg.

Tanganga was up against two of his young Tottenham team-mates in Ashley Phillips and Alfie Devine on Saturday as Millwall won 1-0 at home against Plymouth Argyle.

On the day Tanganga won four aerial duels, made one interception and three clearances and also went on one dribble with an 81.4% pass success rate across his 90 minute performance to help Millwall to their fourth win on the bounce.

The Spurs defender has played 17 times for Millwall since joining in the winter window with 1,462 minutes and two goals to his name.

Alfie Devine and Ashley Phillips (Plymouth Argyle)

Ashley Phillips was back in the starting line-up and got 81 minutes in the backline up against Tanganga's Millwall side at the weekend.

The 18-year-old centre-back had been an unused substitute in the previous couple of games but returned to the side for the game in London. He was taken off with cramp just three minutes before Millwall scored a late 84th minute goal through captain Jake Cooper to keep the pressure on Plymouth, who are just a point above the drop zone in the Championship.

Phillips' 19-year-old Spurs team-mate Alfie Devine got some late minutes as part of a triple change for Argyle in the 86th minute.

Phillips received a seven in Plymouth Live's player ratings with the review: "The teenage loan signing from Tottenham Hotspur was recalled to the starting line-up in preference to Julio Pleguezuelo and had a solid game before being taken off late on due to cramp."

Matthew Craig (Doncaster Rovers)

Matthew Craig's thrilling season only got better at the weekend as Doncaster Rovers grabbed a play-off spot in League Two.

Twenty-year-old midfielder Craig has been an integral part of Rovers' incredible form under Grant McCann which had brought nine wins in a row before Saturday's 2-2 draw at Gillingham. Craig played 82 minutes of that match, having played 77 minutes of the 4-1 win at Colchester United in midweek.

Doncaster will now travel to Crewe Alexandra on Monday after sweeping up the table to a fifth-placed finish which earned them a home second leg in the play-off semi-finals next Friday.

The Scotland Under-21s international got a seven in the player ratings of the Doncaster Free Press with the write-up: "Tidy once again with the ball. Extremely harsh decision to book him for what looked a superb sliding tackle towards the end."

Craig has now played 18 times in League Two, with one goal and one assist, and has 1,993 minutes to his name.

Josh Keeley (Barnet)

Josh Keeley's spell at Barnet came to end as their play-off hopes were halted by a 4-0 defeat in the semi-finals at home to Solihull Moors on Saturday.

The 20-year-old has had a half-season to remember though with his first prolonged taste of senior football as the Republic of Ireland U21s international played 18 times in the National League, recording three clean sheets, and helped them to second place in the division.

Sam Archer (Barton Rovers)

Tottenham Under-18s goalkeeper Sam Archer has also ended his short-term work experience loan which gave him first team exposure with Barton Rovers in Southern League Central Division One.

The 17-year-old enjoyed an excellent time at the non-league side, with plenty of clean sheets, and signed off earlier this month with a 5-2 win at home against a Hadley side that had 10 men from 18 minutes onwards. Archer was not in goal for Rovers' final game of the season, a 4-0 defeat at AFC Dunstable on Saturday.

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