Report: Tottenham, Villarreal agree loan deal for Giovani Lo Celso

The news just keeps coming. And coming. And coming. It shows no signs of stopping soon or slowing down. After the official announcements of Dejan Kulusevski, Rodrigo Bentancur, and Tanguy Ndombele comes this — a (cryptic) report from Matteo Moretto, following up on Fabrizio Romano that confirms that Spurs and Villarreal have agreed a loan for Giovani Lo Celso.

Someone help me out here — I haven’t posted this yet, have I? I can’t even remember what I posted an hour ago. That’s how crazy today has been.

Anyway, let’s assume I haven’t — Gio and Tanguy Ndombele were the cornerstone of Tottenham’s recruitment 2.5 years ago in what was Mauricio Pochettino’s last transfer window. They were supposed to be the nucleus around which Spurs were going to retool the squad after going to the Champions League final.

It didn’t work out that way. Gio struggled with injury, despite playing well for a time under Jose Mourinho. Under Antonio Conte, he’s played sparingly and has alienated a number at the club over his participation with Argentina in international windows.

Now it looks like he’s heading back to Spain, where he broke out a few years back on loan at Real Betis.

There’s too much news for me to fully process, but I’m just... sad about this. Sad it didn’t work out, sad that he never fulfilled his enormous promise here. Maybe this window will be like ripping off a band-aid for everyone — painful at first, but it will allow for healing.

Not a done deal yet and we don’t have contract details either. I’m sure those will come out in time. Probably five minutes after I’ve posted this article.