It won't be long at all until Giovani Lo Celso is back at Hotspur Way following his year on loan in La Liga. Linking up with Villarreal once again as his previous loan deal was not made permanent and another temporary move was instead agreed upon, the 27-year-old has made 25 appearances for the Yellow Submarines in all competitions this term.
It has been a challenging season for the midfielder as a hamstring injury sustained at the end of October saw him miss out on Argentina's successful World Cup squad. Fighting his way back to fitness in March and getting some regular football under his belt once again, Villarreal have four games remaining before their league campaign draws to a close.
Amid Tottenham's new head coach search, there will be a question mark hanging over Lo Celso's head when he returns to the club's Enfield training base for pre-season training. Lo Celso won't be the only one in that position as players such as Tanguy Ndombele, Harry Winks and Joe Rodon will all be returning from their respective loan spells with their futures uncertain.
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As the new man at the helm will want to take a look at all of his players as he decides on his squad for the new campaign, Lo Celso could even be part of his plans going forward. If not, the Argentine will find himself in the cold at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium once again.
Ahead of his summer return to N17, Lo Celso has already been linked with a switch away from Spurs to fellow Premier League side Aston Villa. It perhaps isn't that much of a surprise that he has been mentioned in regards to a switch to Villa Park as Villa boss Unai Emery previously managed the player at both PSG and Villarreal.
After signing the midfielder in 2022, Emery opened up on why the Spanish side had made a move to sign the versatile midfielder. "Giovani is a player I know, because I had him at PSG," explained the Spaniard. "At Betis, he was great and that helped him go to Tottenham. When the possibility of bringing him in came up, we did so because he's a versatile player. With him, we will try and be better."
Signed in the summer of 2019 after excelling in Spain with Real Betis, Lo Celso could never replicate the form he showed in Andalusia for Tottenham. Hit by a number of injuries during his time with the Lilywhites and never getting a consistent run in the team in a set position, the midfielder showed glimpses of his quality but it was too few and far between for a player that cost £42m in total after his initial loan move was made permanent in January 2020.
Not in Antonio Conte's thinking as he was allowed to depart on loan months into the head coach's tenure, Lo Celso was then one of four players who trained away from the first-team squad last summer as the Italian focused on those who were in his immediate plans. When Lo Celso returns for pre-season training this summer, the beginning of July will mark the player entering the final two years of the five-year deal he penned after signing permanently.
A move that has just not worked out at all, it will be the ideal time to move the player on for good as his valuation, which will now be considerably less than what the club paid out in the 2019/20 season, will only start to decrease as he edges nearer to the end of his Tottenham contract. A huge summer for the football club and one where they can reset and plan for the future after a wretched couple of years, it will be best for both parties to go their separate ways.
Tottenham quite simply cannot go into a fifth season wondering whether they will see the best of Lo Celso in 2023/24 as his previous form in N17 has demonstrated that Spurs are very unlikely to see the player that has wowed in La Liga on a consistent basis. Certainly more suited to football in Spain compared to England, a switch to Villa would bring challenges for Lo Celso but Emery will be hoping he is the man who can extract the very best out of the Argentine in the Premier League.
Regardless of whether he is a hit for Villa if he does indeed head to the Midlands, it is time for Tottenham to move on and plan for a brighter future. With a number of transfers just not going to plan at all for Tottenham over the past four years, Daniel Levy and the club will discover the brutal reality of the £42m Lo Celso deal this summer if he is to exit for a reduced fee.
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