This past January, Tottenham Hotspur decided to part ways with midfielder Giovani Lo Celso, sending the Argentine out on loan to Villarreal. Since leaving north London, Lo Celso has found the form that he had at Real Betis.
Furthermore, the 26-year-old is a key figure in Villarreal’s UEFA Champions League run that sees The Yellow Submarine in the competition’s semifinals. Nonetheless, with June around the corner, discussions over his future have begun.
In his “Here We Go podcast” transfer window specialist Fabrizio Romano provided an update on the future of Lo Celso. The Italian journalist revealed what Spurs want for the midfielder, who will be looking to cash in on the player following his excellent run in form since heading to La Liga.
“Lo Celso is doing very well on loan and was Man of the Match in the Champions League between Villarreal and Bayern Munich [first-leg], but Tottenham are still waiting on Villarreal to make an official proposal,” Romano said.
“From what I’m told, they want to discuss on Villarreal’s side with Tottenham to sign Lo Celso on a permanent deal or to keep the player for one more season, but Tottenham want real money.”
There is no option or obligation to buy in the loan, so Villarreal must negotiate with Spurs over Lo Celso. Tottenham will be looking to sell the player, but they want to sell him for cheap since his value only continues to go higher.
The most Villarreal have spent on a player is £21m. This is less than half what we want for him so I doubt he goes there. A lad who pulls the strings in the Ch Lg against a top team like Bayern and was a regular in Argentina’s Copa America triumph is easily worth £40m. That’s being conservative. Ndom did it against City and we spaffed over £50m on him. Hopefully, a club with real spending power comes in for him.
I would suspect that was a Levy tactic. He’ll have been inclined to suspect that Gio would regain his form back in Europe, an if so, would be in demand come the summer window. In demand = increased value on what he was worth when he left on loan. It would’ve been a calculated risk. This way, Daniel can sell to the highest bidder. Simple Levynomics.
I wonder why there was no buy option in the deal.
You might be onto something here. While he was still a loan, he was one of our best players.
A case of adebayoritis?
It could have been that had he arrived when Conte was here he’d of been a different player, who knows? But it seems Conte doesn’t rate him very highly and I think that might be for his off the field behaviour as much as anything else. Allegedly he didn’t fit in well with the group.
He might be one of those I perform when I want a contract players.
Well done Gio for showing that you aren’t a total waster but a talented lad. Never had any real guidance or development into English football because of the chaos at ENIC FC. Might not be suited to the English game but there’s no shame in that, especially when your only period in it was during the midst of mismanagement and no clear objective for either yourself or the team. Had Pochettino been backed after you arrived, it may have been a different story…