Giovani Lo Celso set to join Villarreal from Tottenham Hotspur

Giovani Lo Celso is reported to be returning to Villarreal from Tottenham on another season-long loan deal before making the transfer permanent.

According to Fichajes:

“Giovani Lo Celso has been Villarreal’s main objective in the offices since the beginning of the summer. Unai Emery considers him essential to face the new project.

“For its part, Tottenham, known for being a tough negotiator, has been stretching the gum for weeks and it seems that the agreement between the three parties would be closer than ever.

“If nothing goes wrong at the last minute, the footballer will land at the Estadio de la Cerámica on loan, but on this occasion, the yellows are required to pay €15M at the end of the loan.

“Right now the operation would only be pending some details and could be made official at the beginning of next week.”

Giovani Lo Celso’s time at Spurs has not been a success

Lo Celso signed for Spurs towards the end of Mauricio Pochettino’s reign from Real Betis and he has struggled at the club, scoring just one Premier League goal against Manchester City. He has not been part of Antonio Conte’s plans since the Italian arrived at the club.

Tottenham Hotspur has had some great Argentine players over the years for example Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricardo Villa. However, Lo Celso has failed to live up to the high standards set by these players.

The midfielder looks to be heading back to Villarreal which has become somewhat of a haven for former Premier League players. The Yellow Submarine have in their ranks former Tottenham players in Juan Foyth, Francis Coquelin, Alberto Moreno, Arnaut Danjuma and Etienne Capoue. They are also managed by former Arsenal boss Unai Emery.

Villarreal won the 2021 Europa League beating Manchester United on penalties in the final and last season with Lo Celso they made it to the semi-finals of the Champions League where they were defeated by Liverpool. Next season they will compete in the Europa Conference League.

Has Lo Celso finally found the club for him?

Lo Celso has had an interesting career so far which started in his homeland with Rosario Central before moving to Paris Saint-Germain. There he was loaned back to Rosario and then to Real Betis which was a move that became permanent.

From there he went to Spurs initially on loan before moving permanently and now Villarreal has used this try before you buy tactic with him by getting him on loan before committing to signing him on a permanent basis.

He is a player who at 26 now needs to find a club where he can settle and hopefully this will be at Villarreal for him. Lo Celso made 21 appearances for the club last season scoring once.

Lo Celso is capped 39 times for Argentine and has scored two goals for his country against Guatemala and Venezuela. He also started for La Albiceleste in their 3-0 win over Italy in the Finalissima.

Lo Celso was part of the Argentina squad that won the 2021 Copa America and it is a smart move to join Villarreal again in order to get game time that he would not have got at Spurs under Conte. This playing time could be crucial if Lo Celso is to make it into Lionel Scaloni’s squad for Qatar.