Bryan Gil will miss the start of the new season with Tottenham after undergoing surgery.
Spurs confirmed on Wednesday that the Spanish winger had gone under the knife to fix a groin problem, with no initial timeline given for his recovery and potential return.
“We can confirm that Bryan Gil has undergone surgery to resolve an issue in his groin,” Tottenham said in a short statement.
“Bryan, who spent the second part of last season on loan at Sevilla, will be closely monitored by our medical team to determine when he can return to training.”
Gil was not part of the Tottenham squad that flew out for their Asia-Pacific pre-season tour last month, staying behind at Hotspur Way along with other injury absentees Rodrigo Bentancur, Fraser Forster, Ryan Sessegnon and Troy Parrott.
The 22-year-old will have been frustrated at not yet getting the chance to prove himself to new head coach Ange Postecoglou, with doubts still surrounding his long-term future at the club.
Gil has only featured 31 times in total across all competitions in a frustrating spell at Tottenham since joining from Sevilla in the summer of 2021 in a part-exchange deal worth £21million that also saw Erik Lamela head in the opposite direction, spending time initially out on loan at Valencia.
He rejoined Sevilla on loan until the end of the 2022/23 campaign in January in a deal that had no option or obligation to buy, having found first-team chances under former Spurs boss Antonio Conte hard to come by.
The arrival of Arnaut Danjuma on loan from Villarreal in the winter transfer window made things even tougher on that front, despite a couple of standout displays including in the 4-0 Premier League rout of Crystal Palace - his first top-flight start under Conte, who had compared the player to Manchester City star Bernardo Silva despite claiming he did not yet possess the physique necessary to succeed in English football.
Gil made only 11 appearances for Spurs last season and only three more after the win over Palace before being sent back to Sevilla, where he was a regular in a side who struggled badly under Jorge Sampaoli before the appointment of Jose Luis Mendilibar guided them away from a LaLiga relegation battle and to a record-extending seventh Europa League title triumph, courtesy of a final win over Roma in Budapest which Gil started but was taken off at half-time.
Four-cap Spain international Gil, who is under contract at Spurs for another three years, may have been expected to leave Tottenham again before the close of the summer transfer window, but now will be focused on his recovery.
