Tottenham best served to keep this midfielder around long term
By Gary Pearson
Even though Giovani Lo Celso’s first six months at Tottenham has been a mixed bag, the club would be silly not to sign permanently the Argentine striker.
There’s no definitive time period for how long it takes to adapt to the Premier League. Some players seamlessly transition to the rigours of the Premier League while others take time to adjust to one of the world’s most physically demanding leagues.
Lo Celso, who was loaned by Real Betis on Aug. 6, has, at times, struggled to keep up with the pace of the top flight. But let’s put this in context: Lo Celso arrived in the dying embers of the summer and had no pre-season to adjust to his new environment; just as he started to see some match time under former manager Mauricio Pochettino, Lo Celso suffered a hip injury that kept him out of the lineup for six weeks; then, upon his return to the lineup after a long injury layoff, he had a new manager, with different tactics and ideas, to get used to.
Not exactly the perfect transition into a new life in a foreign land.
You’d be pretty unforgiving and a little unfair to judge him harshly on his first six months at Tottenham Hotspur. The young lad obviously had oodles of talent and is showing signs of coming into his own. He was one of Tottenham’s top performers against Middlesbrough on Sunday, and is making more of an impact, continuously gaining confidence. And he has passion to spare.
Mauricio Pochettino, one of the world’s best judges of young talent, handpicked Lo Celso as a player with the ability to lead Spurs in the future. If Pochettino vouches for him, surely we should too. Pochettino wasn’t flawless in his scouting process, but he definitely has an eye for talent.
dark. Next. What is Spurs best 11 without Harry Kane?
And six months under the aforementioned adversity-riddled circumstances is not nearly a long enough sample size to condemn the young Argentine. Pay the £27 million (£34 million if Spurs secure a top-four place) to make this deal permanent and watch the talented Argentine blossom into a highly valued asset.
Because if they don’t sign him soon, he’ll feel unwanted and almost certainly move on to pastures anew.