Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur

Premier League • England

Tottenham tipped to ship out unwanted man for decent sum with exit route mooted

Giovani Lo Celso, Davinson Sanchez, Tottenham, August 2021

Fabrizio Romano has offered an update on the future of Giovani Lo Celso, believing he will move away from Tottenham soon.

Lo Celso failed to establish himself as a consistent player during his time at Tottenham. Despite playing 28 Premier League games in his first season, he had little impact.

The following campaign, the Argentinian’s game time dropped. Indeed, Lo Celso played just 18 league games that term.

The theme of his appearances coming lesser and lesser continued last season. Indeed, he played just nine league games, starting only two of those.

By January, it was clear that game time was not going to come easily in north London. That was made even more clear when Rodrigo Bentancur was introduced into the midfield.

Tottenham took the decision to ship Lo Celso out to Villarreal to allow him some playing time.

He made more starts during the second half of the season in Spain than he had league appearances as a whole during the period of the season at Tottenham. He also provided one goal and one assist in that time.

In the summer, Lo Celso was sent back to Villarreal on another loan, and he has started eight of the 11 La Liga games that the Yellow Submarine have played.

Lo Celso transfer mooted

Given he seems unwanted by Spurs, a permanent transfer away might be the next step in Lo Celso’s career. Those are the thoughts of transfer insider Romano.

He feels Tottenham might be able to make a decent fee from selling the midfielder.

“I expect Giovani Lo Celso’s future lies away from Tottenham,” he told Caught Offside.

“His price tag around €20-25m stopped Villarreal from signing him on a permanent deal this summer, but they love him and he’s key player since returning on loan.”

Given it is Villarreal who have taken a punt on him, they could be the side to stump up the cash to snare him. It would not be a surprise if they were more willing to do so now after he has spent another spell with the side.

The €20-25million fee that Romano touched on would be £17-21.5million. That would mean Spurs would be losing at most £11million from their original investment.

However, it would still be a decent sum, and would get a player that they seemingly does not have a future at the club off their books.

No movement on switch yet

It might not be in the near future that Lo Celso does move, though. Indeed, Romano also mentioned the Argentinian’s attention is not on a transfer.

“As of now, there are no talks with Tottenham and the player also wants to focus on the World Cup,” he said.

Lo Celso played in Argentina’s last two games, and is likely to make the World Cup squad. Some good performances could help him to secure a move.

Villarreal would likely have first crack at a deal in that event, given Lo Celso is playing with them.