Football
Dan Kilpatrick, Tottenham Correspondent 7y

Georges-Kevin Nkoudou needs time at Tottenham - Mauricio Pochettino

LONDON -- Mauricio Pochettino insists that Georges-Kevin Nkoudou needs time to adapt to the Premier League.

Nkoudou, 21, was signed for £10 million from Marseille in a protracted August transfer but is yet to start a league match for Spurs and seems to be following a similar path to that of Clinton Njie, who returned to France in the summer after one season in North London.

"It is normal to need time to adapt," Pochettino told a news conference of the French forward. "Some players need more than others but it is difficult to adapt to our style.

"He is very young. He is potentially a good player but you cannot put the responsibility from day one and say, 'Come on, you need to perform, you need to work hard and understand our philosophy,' in a completely different culture and discipline. It is tough to come to Tottenham today because we are very demanding."

Tottenham's head of recruitment Paul Mitchell, who signed Nkoudou, resigned in August, in part because he was unhappy at Spurs' failure to sign Michy Batshuayi, who joined Chelsea for £33m, as the club chose Vincent Janssen for £17m instead.

"For us, it is very difficult to sign players like our opponents," Pochettino added. "When you compare Tottenham with Liverpool, Chelsea, [Manchester] City, [Manchester] United and Arsenal, in this moment it is very difficult to compete with them. The challenge is to be clever and to take risks -- and as we know, when you take risks in football, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose."

Asked directly if Spurs had won or lost with Nkoudou, Pochettino said: "We'll see, we'll see. Now is not the time to assess. We cannot be unfair with Nkoudou because it's difficult to assess him so early. We need to give him more time and he needs to show his real quality and build his confidence."

Spurs are actively seeking a replacement for Mitchell, who is serving a 16-month notice period, and he could leave sooner if they find one. In the meantime, Pochettino says it is business as usual, but he is focused his current players rather than signing new ones in next month's transfer window.

"He [Mitchell] is still working and that does not affect the situation for us," Pochettino said. "When he handed in his notice, the notice was 16 months and he will be working until the end of the season, doing the same job. He is doing his job because Tottenham are paying his salary and it's not his decision to sign players. It is Tottenham's, as a club. But with him or without him, or with another person, it is always difficult to sign players in January."

Mitchell's replacement will work with Pochettino, chairman Daniel Levy and David Pleat, Spurs' former manager, in a four-man committee to identify transfer targets and Pochettino knows the club need to be canny while they continue to fund the new stadium project.

"It's not about money, it's how you invest the money," he said. "Now the market is crazy. You can see how the value of players has increased. It's true you need to be clever. You need to be imaginative and creative. And try to fight for good players at a very good price.

"When you're building a stadium like we're building you are not only focused to improve the team. You need to be focused on improving the team but at the same time you're spending money to create a massive stadium which will be one of the best stadiums in Europe. We needed that.

"With the new stadium, Tottenham will be one of the best teams in the world, for sure. But now we need to be creative and sometimes take a risk and when you take a risk sometimes you win and sometimes you don't."

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