Villarreal in direct negotiations with Tottenham for Giovani Lo Celso

Villarreal are in talks with Tottenham Hotspur for the transfer of Giovani Lo Celso, per report.

The Argentine joined Tottenham in 2020. After taking over the club last season, Antonio Conte offered him a few opportunities, but Lo Celso just wasn’t what he was looking for.

Then, the 26-year-old moved on loan to Villarreal for the second half of the 2021/22 season, where he helped the club in their semi-final Champions League run. Villarreal are now eager to sign him to a long-term contract. The Spanish team have now begun ‘direct negotiations’ with Tottenham in an effort to finalize a deal in the upcoming weeks.

He is not in Antonio Conte’s plans for the 2022/23 season and will feel more important with a manager that wants him. Despite interest from Serie A clubs, notably Fiorentina, Villarreal are currently the only club in negotiations for Lo Celso with Spurs.

Three years are left on Lo Celso’s deal with Tottenham. Although Spurs have made it clear that they don’t appear to have any interest in keeping him. It became even more obvious that Lo Celso has no future at the club when the Italian left him out of Spurs’ preseason trip to South Korea earlier this month. But they could use his performance as leverage to negotiate a favorable transfer fee with Villarreal.

A move to Villareal will see Lo Celso line up on the right side of Emery’s midfield four, where he would like to perform a hybrid midfield/wing role for the former Arsenal manager.

Although Giovani Lo Celso failed to establish himself at Tottenham, It will be intriguing to see where he ends up this summer.