Lo Celso off to Spain as Spurs and Villarreal near completion of deal

Giovani Lo Celso’s days as a Tottenham Hotspur player have been numbered for awhile. Upon his return from Villarreal, where he spent the second half of last season on loan, his future was made crystal clear to him: He was not in Antonio Conte’s plans and Spurs would look to ship him off.

It’s taken some time, but it appears Lo Celso is heading back to Spain to Villarreal once more. The smoke around this deal is that it’s a season-long loan with some form of buying at the end, though we don’t know if it’s an option or obligation. Gianluca Di Marzio has hopped in on this and said a medical is imminent.

We always tell you that Di Marzio is hit and miss, at least when it comes to his site and writers. However, when he jumps in on it directly? It’s usually happening.

This makes a lot of sense for everyone. While he isn’t on astronomical wages (reportedly £70,000/week), getting his wages off the book helps. Villarreal, having already taken him last season, know what he’s capable of and clearly have a spot for him. Lo Celso gets his playing time ahead of the World Cup. There was a late push by Fiorentina to take the Argentine for the season, but given the good relationship Spurs have with Villarreal, the ship had already sailed.

We’ll wait to see what the end of the loan looks like once we hear from one of the Spurs beat writers, but kicking the can down the road another season is fine, especially if he kills it in Spain and increases his value. Spurs can now focus on moving his midfield counterparts out, namely Harry Winks and Tanguy Ndombele. While Winks had some suitors earlier in the window, he has turned down a couple of loans. Ndombele, however, has had little to no traction and that’s worrisome given his wages.

We expect the Lo Celso loan deal to be completed in the next couple of days.

UPDATE (11:17AM ET): Fabrizio Romano says the deal is done and it’s a straight loan, no buy option.