Where ex-Burnley FC, Tottenham Hotspur star Georges-Kevin Nkoudou is playing now may surprise you | OneFootball

Georges-Kevin N'Koudou has gone on to have a stellar career despite flopping in England

For whatever reason, things never really worked out for Georges-Kevin N'Koudou in England with both Tottenham and Burnley, but his career after leaving the country has certainly taken an upward trajectory.

It was Spurs who took the first punt on N'Koudou back in September 2016 when he was a fresh-faced 21-year-old, bringing the Frenchman in from Marseille for £9.4 million.

There were high hopes that N'Koudou could be a star of the future for Tottenham, but he found it difficult to adapt in England, and never truly reached the heights it was hoped he would do when he made the initial move.

Competition for places at Spurs back then was understandably high, and when he moved to Burnley in January 2018, many expected he would flourish playing in a side where competition wasn't quite as intense.

It didn't really work out that way for the fleet-footed winger though, who brought his struggles with him to Burnley, as he again struggled to make inroads into a Premier League starting XI.

Since leaving Spurs though, his career seems to have ignited, and some may be surprised to see just how well he's doing at the moment.

After struggling so much in the English top-flight, it was a little surprising to see Besiktas stump up £4.6m to take him to Turkey, but he had a relatiely successful time in the Turkish Super League - more so than he did in England anyway.

For context, those 108 appearances made for Besiktas were almost three times as he made for Burnley and Spurs combined, while the 21 goals he scored in Turkey compares to just one netted in England, so his career has certainly taken off since leaving.

He now plays in Saudi Arabia for Damac FC, and his record this season has been nothing short of phenomenal, scoring eight goals in 13 Saudi Pro League games, and he also boasts an incredible six-match scoring streak in home games for the Saudi club.

This term, only Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and Aleksandr Mitrovic have scored more goals in the Saudi top-flight that N'Koudou, who seems to have found a level at which he excels.

Even last season he impressed in the Middle East too, clocking up 20 goal contributions in 35 league games for the club, although he could only help them to a mid-table finish.

Unlike some other clubs in Saudi though, not many of his other teammates are household names, with 79-cap Romania international midfielder Nicolae Stanciu perhaps the next best-known.

It's hard to believe that N'Koudou is the same player who flopped at Tottenham Hotspur and Burnley

English football fans largely won't pay too much attention to the goings-on in the Saudi Pro League, so to most, it will be a huge surprise to see N'Koudou excelling the way he has done over there.

Naturally, the standard of the league isn't as high as the Premier League, but he showed few signs when playing in England that he could go on to perform at the level he did do.

He certainly didn't stand out in a Burnley team who had a squad of players far less talented than those Spurs had, which would suggest that the then-European-chasing Clarets were probably a level too high for him.

There's an argument to be had that N'Koudou has now found his level in Saudi Arabia, but on the evidence of his two spells in England, no one would've believed that he'd be rivalling Ronaldo and Benzema for a golden boot.