Tottenham tumble asking price for Aston Villa midfield target, with crushing loss to become grim reality

Tottenham Hotspur are believed to have dropped their asking price for midfielder Giovani Lo Celso as they aim to sell him before the end of the month.

Lo Celso was left out of Tottenham’s squad for their pre-season fixture against Bayern Munich on Saturday, in an obvious sign that his future lies away from north London. With only a year remaining on his contract, Spurs are trying to sell Lo Celso while they still can.

Interest from Aston Villa – whose manager Unai Emery coached him during a loan spell at Villarreal – and his former club Real Betis has been confirmed over the weekend.

And now, more clues have emerged about the extent Tottenham will go to in order to offload the Argentina international in the next couple of weeks, before the transfer window closes on August 30.

TEAMtalk sources stated in June that Tottenham were willing to accept bids of £12m from any suitor for Lo Celso.

However, with no one matching their demands yet, it seems Spurs have been forced to reduce their asking price.

According to a new update from Football Insider, Tottenham are now just asking for £10m for Lo Celso. Furthermore, anyone trying to take him on loan will likely be turned away.

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Having decided he is now out of their plans under Ange Postecoglou, Tottenham are in a race against time to sell Lo Celso. If they fail to sell him this month, they risk losing him for free at the end of the season, since he could sign a pre-contract agreement with any foreign club from January onwards.

The midfielder previously cost them around £42m after joining from Real Betis five years ago. Spurs will be making a major loss on Lo Celso, to a magnitude possibly even greater than they planned for.

Tottenham trying to land Lo Celso upgrade

But if they can cut Lo Celso from their squad in time, they might have room for someone more suitable to Postecoglou’s tactics.

The dream target is Jacob Ramsey from Aston Villa, which could lead to a part-exchange deal given the interest at the other end in Lo Celso. As the younger player with more to offer in the long term, Ramsey would be the more valuable component of that operation, although it is not necessarily an easy one for them to agree.

After all, Lo Celso may want to return to La Liga, a competition he has made 70 appearances in across two-and-a-half years. In contrast, he has played 77 times in the Premier League for Tottenham, during three-and-a-half possible years of action.

His output has also historically been far better in Spanish than English football, with 12 La Liga goals to his name but only three Premier League strikes.

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