29 G/A in 45 games: Player Tottenham sold for £4.6m now rivalling Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia
Today at 02:15 PM
Perhaps understandably, the Tottenham Hotspur flop is keen to keep comparisons with one Cristiano Ronaldo at a distance.
Yet, as he drew level with the Real Madrid, Manchester United and Portugal legend at the top of the goalscoring charts – a Golden Boot starting to feel like a genuine possibility for a man outshining far bigger names – the well-travelled forward is proving that he belongs in the company of Ronaldo and co as one of the headline talents of the Saudi Pro League.
Georges-Kevin Nkoudou may lack the superstar power of Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mane or Karim Benzema, not to mention Ivan Toney, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Aleksandr Mitrovic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
But the sheer relentlessness of his productivity in the final third ensures that the one-time Spurs misfit – Nkoudou was sold by Tottenham for just £4.6 million after one goal in 27 appearances – has become Damac FC what Ronaldo is to Al-Nassr and what Benzema is to Al-Ittihad.
Tottenham flop Georges-Kevin Nkoudou a star in Saudi Arabia
“I do not compare myself to big players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Mitrovic,” Nkoudou told reporters earlier in his Middle Eastern sojourn.
“My goal is to strive to give my all and score goals. I do not see myself as a top scorer in the league. I play as an attacking winger, not an outright striker. I score and create whenever I have the opportunity, and I do not think about being the top scorer in the league.”
With Mitrovic averaging better than a goal-a-game at Al-Hilal, Nkoudou is perhaps correct to be pessimistic about his Golden Boot chances.
Yet, considering that he has seven in 12 from a far wider role than the Fulham favourite operates in, the sight of Nkoudou joining Ronaldo on the podium and closing in on Benzema’s own tally appears all the more impressive.
Nkoudou, who also had a forgettable spell at Burnley before leaving Tottenham, is also enjoying a run of three goals in three Saudi Pro League games. What’s more, he ranks in the division’s top ten for chances created with 22.
Only Ronaldo, Benzema, Mitrovic and Moussa Diaby – lighting up the desert after the Frenchman was sold for an eye-watering £50 million by Aston Villa – have mustered more goals and assists combined. An average of 3.3 successful dribbles per game, meanwhile, sees Mane, Ronaldo and co choking on Nkoudou’s dust.
Nkoudou is level with Cristiano Ronaldo in goalscoring charts
Back in North London, Nkoudou will be best remembered by those Tottenham fans not for his contributions on the pitch – there certainly weren’t many of those – but for being one of a host of ill-fated attacking signings in an era where Spurs were trying and failing to put together a Premier League title-winning jigsaw.
The corner pieces forever missing in Pochettino’s picture.
Nkoudou, for instance, would arrive in the same summer as Vincent Jansen and one year after Clinton N’Jie.
"[My] story wasn’t the one I hoped for when I arrived here,” Nkoudou would admit following his departure to Besiktas, Tottenham making a £6 million loss on a player who was not trusted to even start a single Premier League game by Pochettino.
“[But] I still feel like I learned a lot [at Spurs], as a player and as a man.”
At least, with Nkoudou challenging Ronaldo and giving Mitrovic reason to glance over his shoulder these days, the lessons he learned during that miserable stay in the English capital appear to have done him some good later down the line.
