Bryan Gil has confirmed that he is returning to La Liga with Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur letting the Spaniard leave on loan, speaking to Tuttomercatoweb.
Few would have expected, back in July, that Sevilla would be getting the better of an eye-catching player-plus-cash swap deal.
Spurs splashed out £21 million for Bryan Gil, while using experienced Argentina international Erik Lamela as a makeweight.
But, in six months, Lamela has scored more goals (four) than Gil has started games on the Premier League stage.
The silky winger has found game-time increasingly hard to come by during his debut season on English soil. His adaptation certainly hasn’t been helped by the sacking of Nuno Espirito Santo in the autumn.
It remains to be seen whether Gil, something of an old-school playmaker who loves to drift across the pitch to his heart’s content, can find a role in Antonio Conte’s rigid 3-4-2-1 formation.
He’s certainly not a wing-back. It’s not certain, either, if he has the physicality or the speed to thrive as an attacking midfielder either.
Does Bryan Gil still have a big future at Spurs?
A loan spell at Valencia, however, should offer Gil the chance to rebuild his confidence and his reputation in a league he took by storm during an exhilarating loan spell at Eiber in 2020/21.
“I am very happy,” Gil explains after touching down for a medical on the Castellon coast.
“I think I can do well here. That is why I chose Valencia.”
Just last year, one of the most experienced scouts in La Liga football described Gil as the most impressive footballer in the country, comparing him to Neymar and suggesting that Barcelona were considering a move for the silky Spanish schemer.
After six months at a new club – in a new league – no one should write off Gil just yet.
Who’s to say he can’t return to North London and make himself indispensible to Conte’s plans?
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