Romano: Spurs swapping Erik Lamela plus cash for Sevilla’s Bryan Gil

Just a couple of weeks ago the speculation was that Tottenham Hotspur’s Erik Lamela was likely leaving the club for Italy, with Fiorentina notably interested in the Argentine’s services. So it was to everyone’s surprise this morning when transfer guru Fabrizio Romano dropped this minor bomb on the Tottenham fanbase: Spurs are apparently very close to the rarest of all football transfers, a swap deal.

Tottenham are apparently sending Lamela to Sevilla along with €25m for 20-year old left sided attacking winger Bryan Gil.

Apart from the surprise of this particular transfer coming pretty much out of nowhere, it is, at first blush, kind of underwhelming. Bryan is super young, which is good, and his stats show elite level ball progression and dribbling numbers, but he’s not a prolific scorer (4 goals in 2200 minutes last season) nor a particularly astute creator. He is, however, someone who is very adept at bringing the ball into the box (1.5 penalty box carries/90), and that could be a useful thing to have for Nuno.

Still, it feels like a bit of a puzzling move, unless Fabio Paratici’s scouting is emphasizing something about Bryan that we’re not seeing here. But again, he’s 20 which means this transfer is likely as much about his ceiling and potential as it is his present ability. Paratici clearly sees something he likes in Bryan Gil, and getting younger players in for older players is at a surface level a good thing to be doing right now.

And, on the other hand, Paratici is not the only one who thinks Bryan Gil has the potential to turn into an amazing player. He’s been highly rated by Sevilla for a while now — an AS article from March says he had a €50m release clause and that Sevilla were considering slapping a €100m price on him to keep bigger clubs from sniffing around. From that perspective, this seems like a pretty good deal.

However, the most concerning thing about this potential transfer isn’t in Bryan’s stats — I don’t see anything in Bryan’s background that shows that he’s able to wind up Theo Walcott, go in two footed on a goalkeeper, or nick a water bottle off of an opposing team’s physios. What’s his xShithousery? Why are we even bothering with this guy? Build the statue. I’m crying now, go away.