Mauricio Pochettino not satisfied with Georges-Kevin N'koudou's fitness levels

Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that summer signing Georges Kevin-N'koudou needs to improve his fitness before he begins to play regularly for Tottenham Hotspur. The forward who arrived from Marseille has played just one minute in the Premier League thus far and looks to be well off from breaking into the starting XI.

The 21-year-old has made three appearances in all competitions for the Spurs with his latest coming during their 1-0 win over CSKA Moscow in the Champions League. All his appearances have come off the bench and the manager has revealed that it is a role that is best suited to the forward at the moment.

N'koudou spent a considerable amount of time in London before completing his move and had started training with the White Hart Lane outfit before the two clubs had confirmed the deal. The France U21 international, who is primarily a left winger, but can play all across the front line is competing for a place with the likes of Christian Eriksen and Son Heung-min, who are both in good form and unlikely to be dropped in the foreseeable future.

"He's not 100 per cent at the level we want him. He's very young and he needs to work a lot to arrive at his best," Pochettino said, as quoted by the London Evening Standard.

"It's true that for the way we want to use him now, it's perfect for him to be on the bench and make an impact as he did against CSKA," the Argentine coach added.

Tottenham take on Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday (2 October) and both teams will be keen to preserve their unbeaten status in the league. Pochettino will hope to have the services of Eric Dier, Danny Rose, Mousa Dembele and Moussa Sissoko, who have all missed recent games due to injury. The former two returned to training during the week and could return to the starting lineup for the crucial clash against Pep Guardiola's side.