The Spanish playmaker joined Deportivo La Coruna in July on a season-long loan with an option to buy, but he has so far struggled to make his mark at the Estadio Riazor.
Aston Villa loanee Carles Gil has suggested to Spanish news outlet AS that there is still a chance he could have a future at the club if his spell with Deportivo La Coruna does not work out.
Gil, who turns 24 later this month, joined Villa from boyhood club Valencia in January 2015 for a reported £3.2 million fee and went on to make 34 total appearances for the claret and blues over the next 18 months, recording three goals and three assists in the process.
While he showed plenty of flashes of ability during that time, the Spanish playmaker noticeably struggled with the pace and physicality of English football and failed to hold down a regular place in the side under either Tim Sherwood or successor Remi Garde last season as the club finished bottom of the Premier League.
With no desire to drop down to the Championship, the former Under-21 international was subsequently allowed by former manager Roberto Di Matteo to join Deportivo on a season-long loan in July and has since been trying to re-establish himself back in the familiar confines of La Liga.
The deal that originally took him to the Estadio Riazor was with a view to a permanent move next summer, but having so far struggled for playing time and dealt with nagging injuries, the creative midfielder is already contemplating a future elsewhere – potentially even back at Villa Park.
“I’m not happy, I’ve been playing little and I’ve been injured,” said Gil, who has made just two starts and one substitute appearance for Depor over their first 10 league games this season. “But this will change. I already feel better about the injury and all I want is to have opportunities and show what I have.
“I don’t regret anything in this life, whether it goes good or bad; that’s what I felt in that moment [leaving Valencia for Villa]. Who knows if I go back there, I stay in England or here… In football, you never know. I don’t think in the long term.”
Whether Gil could potentially cut his loan spell short in January remains to be seen at this point, but it is no guarantee that there would even be a place for him in Steve Bruce’s Villa side in that scenario.
Despite spells of inconsistency, the diminutive Spaniard’s skill and trickery on the ball saw him become a firm favourite with the claret and blue faithful during his early days in B6, but the concern remains that he is simply too lightweight to handle the rigours of Championship football.
With Villa still lacking some creativity in the final third, it is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility that Bruce could try to bring him back to England at some point, but even then the former Valencia man would likely have to settle for a bit-part role behind the likes of Jordan Ayew, Albert Adomah, Jack Grealish and Ross McCormack.
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