Tottenham willing to take hit on Giovani Lo Celso, with permanent Villarreal switch edging closer

Giovani Lo Celso is preparing to make his loan move to Villarreal permanent this summer and Tottenham are reportedly willing to take a loss on the Argentina international.

Lo Celso cost Tottenham just over £27million when joining from La Liga outfit Real Betis in January 2020, following a season-long loan. But the central midfielder failed to make a real impact during his first full season as a permanent Tottenham player.

He made 28 appearances during 2020-21, with 18 of these coming in the Premier League. Lo Celso managed five goals and one assist in all competitions.

Lo Celso stayed at Tottenham for the first half of the current campaign. However, he soon fell down the pecking order and was reduced to late substitute appearances in league games.

As a result, Antonio Conte allowed the 38-cap international to leave and he went on to sign for Villarreal on loan.

Lo Celso has improved under Unai Emery, even though just two goal contributions have come his way in 22 outings.

The player is clearly enjoying his time back in Spain and is now hoping to end his disappointing spell in England when the summer transfer window opens.

According to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, Villarreal are ‘really interested’ in capturing the 26-year-old on a permanent basis.

Emery requests permanent Giovani Lo Celso capture

Former Arsenal boss Emery is pushing Villarreal officials to complete the move.

And the Spanish club have now discovered how much they will have to spend on Lo Celso.

Romano claims Spurs will accept a bid if Villarreal put £17m on the table. That would represent a loss of just more than £10m if Lo Celso completed an exit.

Spurs chiefs would have been hoping Lo Celso could replace Christian Eriksen when the playmaker left for Inter Milan.

But that hasn’t been the case and Lo Celso’s transfer will ultimately go down as a failed one. He occasionally showed what he is capable of but never did it consistently.

Frustratingly for Spurs, he is likely to get better and better under Emery at Villarreal. The Yellow Submarine have had a great couple of years, winning the Europa League in 2021 and reaching this season’s Champions League semi-finals.

Emery is getting great results out of his team, despite them not having the biggest names. And Lo Celso could follow in Arnaut Danjuma’s footsteps by benefitting from this.

Meanwhile, Spurs have reached a ‘full agreement’ to sign an experienced wide midfielder from Italy.