Georges-Kevin Nkoudou may be completely forgotten by Tottenham Hotspur supporters, but he has been making an impression for Cameroon at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Even if Euro 2024 seems far off, there are now two international competitions underway.
The fact that both the Asia Cup and the Africa Nations Cup are happening in the midst of the Premier League season is likely frustrating to the managers who will be affected.
Tottenham has suffered greatly as midfielders Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr are abroad with Mali and Senegal, respectively, while captain Son Heung-min is leaving with South Korea.
Supporters will be monitoring their development, and viewers of the Africa Cup of Nations might have caught a familiar but unrecognized face in action.
Georges-Kevin Nkoudou, a former Tottenham winger, is having an effect for Cameroon.
Cameroon’s front three includes Georges-Kevin Nkoudou, a former Spurs misfit.
Spurs supporters will recall the summer 2016 transfer window as having been hit or miss; Vincent Janssen, Moussa Sissoko, and Victor Wanyama all had varying degrees of success.
Then there was Nkoudou, a winger who signed a £9.4 million deal with Spurs from Marseille 40 days after clearing the team’s medical.
Nkoudou finally arrived after a wild transfer drama, but he only made 11 Premier League games while wearing a Spurs jersey, so he wasn’t really worth the wait.
After a lackluster loan to Monaco and Burnley, Nkoudou was sold to Besiktas for £4.6 million in the summer of 2019, capping three forgettable years as a Spurs player.
When Nkoudou joined Spurs, he was a French Under-21 international, so why was he playing in the AFCON?
The now 28-year-old chose to devote his career to Cameroon by changing his international allegiance in 2022, and he has since made an impression at AFCON.
Guinea vs. Cameroon – TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations
Nkoudou made seven crucial passes in Cameroon’s opening match against Guinea, which sadly resulted in a 1-1 tie. One of those passes set up a shooting.
Nkoudou gave it everything he had and led Cameroon to victory. His even key passes were the most by any Cameroonian player since Opta began keeping track of their statistics in 2010.
Nkoudou had one more crucial pass on Friday, making him the most inventive player in the entire tournament with eight critical passes. Cameron lost 3-1 to Senegal on Friday as well.
Nkoudou is starting to show himself as a serious threat for Cameroon; that’s three more than Egypt’s Mohamed Salah and more than Achraf Hakimi and Alex Iwobi put together.
The answer to the question of where Nkoudou is currently playing club football for the Spurs is Saudi Arabia.
Nkoudou joined Damac in August and has since been in incredible form, making 17 games for Damac and scoring 14 goals and dishing out four assists.
Nkoudou seems to be enjoying his game for club and country right now, putting those challenging years in North London behind him, even though it may not have worked out at Tottenham.
