Fresh from their stunning 4-1 aggregate win over Juventus in the Champions League Round of 16, Giovani Lo Celso and Villarreal will be looking for another major scalp on Wednesday evening. Bayern Munich are the visitors to Estadio de la Ceramica and it certainly won't be straightforward for the Bundesliga champions as Unai Emery looks to guide the Yellow Submarines to another famous European night.
Once again hit by injury this term and then in and out of the Tottenham side once fit, Antonio Conte's stance on Lo Celso became clear to see towards the end of January when he was left out of the matchday squad for the 2-0 defeat against Chelsea. A decision that certainly raised eyebrows amongst the fanbase at the time with Spurs not exactly blessed with midfield options with Dele Alli and Tanguy Ndombele out of favour, Lo Celso took to Instagram minutes after the team news was confirmed and announced he was "100 per cent in good physical condition".
Moving on, as expected, following his omission at Chelsea, Lo Celso returned to La Liga with Villarreal and has since become a key figure in Emery's team. Starting in six of his eight league appearances so far, Lo Celso also started in both Round of 16 games against Juventus to help his new club triumph.
READ MORE: Fabio Paratici's 2022/23 free transfer deal that can help Tottenham finalise two permanent moves
Previously wowing in Spain for Real Betis before his move to Tottenham in August 2019, Lo Celso has made an instant impression back in La Liga. The versatile midfielder's performances have caught the eye of former Villarreal star Robert Pires, who believes the player's quality can really benefit Villarreal.
La Liga ambassador Pires, speaking on behalf of LiveScore, said: "Lo Celso is a good player, a midfielder with good vision. It was important for him to find a club where he could play more. That’s why he had a good time on loan with Betis in La Liga and now he has come to Villarreal from Tottenham I think he can help the club. Lo Celso has quality and can help Villarreal with that programme. He has the right profile to play for Villarreal.”
Reports from Lo Celso's home country of Argentina indicate that Villarreal do indeed want to make the midfielder's loan move permanent come the summer, although the Spanish side do not have an option to buy clause in the deal they struck with Tottenham. Villarreal will instead have to negotiate a deal for his services, but it perhaps shouldn't be too hard a deal to strike providing that they offer Spurs the money they want and also given Lo Celso's current status under Conte at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Another key summer for the club as Fabio Paratici looks to repeat his magic from the January transfer window and help take Spurs to the next level, Lo Celso does have an important part to play in the managing director of football's transfer plans as money from his potential sale can be put towards new arrivals. The additions of Cristian Romero, Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski have drastically improved Tottenham's squad and a few more high calibre additions will only benefit Spurs in the long run.
One area Tottenham will look to strengthen this summer is the left-sided centre-back role as they aim to bring in another natural in the position to compete with Ben Davies. Initially planning to add to there in January, the Lilywhites instead pushed back their plans until the summer.
As part of Paratici's Tottenham rebuild last summer, Villarreal's highly-rated centre-back Pau Torres was tipped for a summer switch to N17 but a move never came to fruition. Having helped his side qualify for the Champions League following their Europa League final triumph, the 25-year-old elected to remain with his hometown club rather than make the switch to the Premier League.
“This summer, he (Fernando Roig, Villarreal owner) called my representative and told me there was an important offer from Tottenham, that it was worth more than now (current salary)," explained Torres back in January, as reported by Football Espana. "But as I play in the team of my town, which few players do, I decided to stay where I am happy.”
Unable to offer Torres football in Europe's premier competition following their failure to finish in the top four for the second successive campaign, Spurs may be able to offer it to the defender in 2022/23 if they do manage to hold on to the final Champions League spot come the final day of the campaign. A left-sided centre-back and one of Europe's most highly-rated young defenders, Torres can fill the position Paratici and Conte want to address and also help the team form a mean backline in the process.
This is where Lo Celso comes into the equation, with Paratici having the chance to offer the Argentina international in a deal for Torres if the Lilywhites want to make their move for the centre-back. Now taking his opportunity at Villarreal and recapturing the form that initially saw him come to the attention of Tottenham in 2019, Lo Celso still has a key part to play in Paratici's Spurs summer transfer plans as he can bring in the funds to form Conte's dream 2022/23 squad.
La Liga ambassador Robert Pires was speaking at an event for LiveScore, Official Global Scoring Partner of LaLiga Santander. To read the full article, visit LiveScore’s News section here.
