Fabrizio Romano confirms midfielder can leave Tottenham

Fabrizio Romano has confirmed what plenty would have assumed - that Tottenham's Giovani Lo Celso not being in the squad today was not due to injury or illness.

Indeed it is because the club have told him he is free to leave, and is not in the plans going forward.

Fabrizio confirmed that his former club Real Betis are interested, as well as Aston Villa and "other clubs".

The writing was on the wall for Lo Celso at Spurs when he was unable to get a regular place in the team when James Maddison was out injured. He started a couple of games, but still found himself on the bench for a number of games and if he wasn't going to nail down a place with Maddison unavailable, it's never going to happen when he is unavailable.

Even when Maddison came back from injury, and was out of sorts - Ange was still reluctant to give Lo Celso starts and regular minutes in the side.

Fabrizio Romano confirms midfielder can leave Tottenham

It makes sense for all parties for Lo Celso to depart the club. Spurs can free up wages and a spot in the squad, as well as cash in on a player with one year remaining on his contract, Lo Celso can go and get the playtime that he deserves, and a club out there will be getting a fine player at their disposal.

The clubs Fabrizio Romano mentions - Real Betis and Aston Villa - make sense.

Real Betis are, as mentioned above, Lo Celso's former club and he would get to play football at a familiar club, league, and in a Spanish-speaking country. As for Aston Villa, Unai Emery coached him at Villarreal and is Spanish-speaking. He would get to play with compatriots and at least one-time international team-mates Emi Martinez and Emi Buendia - as well as new signing Enzo Barrenchea.

There is no doubt that Lo Celso is a quality player, who showed it as recently as the Copa America final back in July - but it is time to move on - in the interest of everyone involved