Villarreal CEO Fernando Roig Negueroles has rebuffed claims the La Liga side are offering £16 million to sign Premier League misfit Giovanni Lo Celso from Tottenham Hotspur, speaking to AS, while adding that a deal will be difficult to agree.
Just five months ago, a second-string Spurs side crept past third-tier strugglers Morecambe in the FA Cup third round.
By September, no fewer than seven of the 11 players who started that most unconvincing of 3-1 defeats might have bid farewell. Dele Alli has gone already, as has Pierluigi Gollini, while offers for Joe Rodon, Bryan Gil and Tanguy Ndombele will also be considered.
Lo Celso, too, looks all-but certain to have played his final game for the London giants.
According to The Athletic, Antono Conte is keen to move on from a player who shone intermittently during Jose Mourinho’s reign but struggled to recapture that form consistently since then.
Is Gio Lo Celso leaving Tottenham permanently?
Lo Celso impressed sufficiently during a loan spell at Villarreal to suggest that a return to the Champions League semi-finalists could be on the cards, though Roig is keen to point out that no offers habe been tabled thus far.
“We have not negotiated with Tottenham,” says Roig, refuting reports of an initial £16 million offer (The Times).
“We’ve not sat down with them to talk about anything for now. We know that the player is open to staying, but we cannot sit down to talk about an operation like this without having exits.”
Put simply, Villarreal must sell before they can buy.
“What is being talked about, offers and so on, is not true. There has been no negotiation,” Roig adds. “Nor have they offered us or asked for anything.
“As I told you, it is a very complicated operation. They spent a lot of money on the player. Without sales and with the team we have, we are not in a position to carry out this operation.
“He is a great player who has been very happy here and we have been very happy with him. But he is a Tottenham player. It is true that we would like him to be able to stay here but it’s very complicated.”
Spurs are also expected to cash in on Steven Bergwijn this summer, though Lucas Moura is now ‘90 per cent’ certain to stick around.
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