Nkoudou was lucky to impress with Fulham's help

With iron on fire and maximum points on the line, Harry Winks got the best score in Fulham's penalty area on Sunday to bring the winner back home. Rapting in the moment to Craven Cottage, he momentarily ceased to be of importance to Georges-Kevin Nkoudou, whose cross had allowed the breakthrough, how his time with Tottenham had been terrible .

It's been two and a half years since the Spurs paid Marseille a little less than 10 million pounds for its services. The previous summer, the club had sided with the thrilling Clinton N & # 0; Jie and had been burned by the mercurial striker's complete inability to understand the demands of the manager, Mauricio Pochettino.

So, in a way, Nkoudou was immediately subjected to pressure that replaced his compatriot in the opposite direction.

This pressure was exacerbated when the transfer lasted 40 days, resulting in renegotiation and then the resignation of former club recruiting chief Paul Mitchell.

Pochettino wanted a different wide option, a point of sale allowing an extension of his usual approach, and hoped to find her at Nkoudou. However, this hope has so far been unfounded.

Mitchell had worked with Pochettino in Southampton, and although the resignation had little to do with a quarrel with the Argentinian director, there could have been an unconscious mental badociation of Nkoudou with the disappointment that he must have felt at the outset of his former collaborator. ?

This is an angle of psychological temptation of pop that is tempting, but more concretely, Nkoudou has no doubt had trouble integrating with Tottenham.

The 23-year-old has made 25 appearances since arriving at an average of 20 minutes per game, scoring one goal and two out of two.

Last season, Burnley's loan was not much better either: there were only eight appearances and scarcely scored significantly.

The numbers are sobering and the impact is negligible.

This certainly changed Sunday with his winning contribution, showing calm in the heart of the match to allow quality delivery. Naturally, we could consider this moment as a turning point, a return to the good graces of a manager who admitted that Nkoudou did not always seize the opportunity when it was presented.

The recent series of Tottenham injuries in the forward positions offers him precisely this: an opportunity.

Dele Alli is the latest victim, joining Harry Kane and son Heung-Min (on an international mission) as notable absences, while Lucas Moura is only on the road to recovery.

Starting in the semi-final first leg of the League Cup against Chelsea on Thursday, Nkoudou will have more opportunities to shine. It is perhaps the return of Moura that provides him with the ideal model to seize the opportunity.

The Brazilian, Tottenham's third offensive winger in Ligue 1 in three years, finally proved himself and offered a direct and fearless race, combined with the threat of goal from smart drifts in the center.

While Kane was trying to impregnate the Spurs with his usual vigor after a long run in the World Cup, it was Moura who took the lead, scoring important goals earlier in the season against Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Now, with Kane (and Alli) and his absent, it's the second-chance season at Enfield.

The article continues below

For striker Fernando Llorente, Sunday was a day to forget since he hit the back of the net on the wrong side.

For Nkoudou, it was perhaps the day to revive his rebirth. If he seized the moment, to quote a Wengerism, he would be "like a new signature".