Luis Enrique’s failure to call up Tottenham’s Bryan Gil is not being seen as a negative by Valencia, who are planning to use it as part of their charm offensive to keep him.
That’s according to El Desmarque, who say the youngster still has a chance to make his international return in the summer.
Gil is currently on loan at Valencia, having joined from Tottenham in the January transfer window in search of regular playing time.
He’s found that under Jose Bordalas, establishing himself as a first-team star with a series of impressive performances that have made him a firm fan favourite.
Valencia are keen to keep him beyond the summer and are planning to do everything they can to make that happen, and it was recently reported that if Gil returned to the Spain squad, that would work in their favour.
That’s because it would add further justification to Gil staying in Valencia, where he is getting regular game time and impressing, so will therefore be more likely to be called up to the Spain squad for the World Cup this winter.
That never happened this week, with Enrique ignoring the Tottenham man in favour of Carlos Soler, but it’s not the last chance Gil will have.
El Desmarque explain that there will be a ‘new opportunity’ to earn his return in the summer when Enrique names his squad for the Nations League.
The Spain boss ‘has not forgotten’ about the Tottenham man, and if he continues to be a ‘decisive player’ for Valencia between now and the end of the season, he’ll likely be in contention for a call-up.
That would be ‘dynamite’ for their hopes of keeping him as it would be an ‘added factor’ to the winger’s motivations for staying.
In other words, and as we’ve explained already, he’ll be more inclined to stay in Valencia if that boosts his chances of being in Spain’s World Cup squad.
Tottenham will still have their say, of course, but given Antonio Conte has been pretty open that he doesn’t need Gil, it’s hard to imagine he’d block another temporary exit.
