Speaking on the Transfer Window Podcast, Duncan Castles has been chatting about Bryan Gil and his move to Tottenham in the summer.
Fabio Paratici arrived at Tottenham in the summer, and he immediately got to work at revamping the Spurs squad, and his first signing was Gil from Sevilla.
The Spaniard was signed for £21m (€25m), but Castles is led to believe that the winger was actually about to join a Serie A side for around €6m before Spurs came in for him.
What’s Castles said?
The journalist was critical of Paratici’s work thus far, pointing out the Gil saga as one serious mistake.
“Generally Paratici’s work at Tottenham has to come under question. Bryan Gil is a good example here, that €25m plus Erik Lamela that they spent on the player, we spoke to experts in football and they said he was a talented player but it’s questionable about whether or not he’s a player for the Premier League. My information is that Antonio Conte felt he was not ready for the Premier League, so he’s loaned him out,” Castles said.
“The details of how that deal was done, I am told that Gil was about to be sold by Sevilla to a Serie A club for around €6m (£5m). Then Paratici contacted Monchi asking how much they would want for Gil, then Monchi, who is a very experienced transfer market operator said they wouldn’t sell for less than €20m.
“Tottenham then made an offer which Monchi then bargained up to €25m plus Erik Lamela, and half a season later he’s being loaned out to Spain and the second coach he’s worked under believes he’s not ready to play Premier League football. There are some serious mistakes being made here.”
Saw them coming
If this is true, then Sevilla certainly saw Tottenham coming.
The Spanish club were willing to let Gil go for around €6m to a Serie A club, but somehow, they managed to get Paratici to pay around 300% more than that amount while also throwing Erik Lamela into the mix.
Spurs have received a lot of flak in recent years for not spending enough, but this is quite flagrant overspending.
Paratici, quite simply, has to do better in the future.
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