Tottenham’s Bryan Gil has admitted he “practically fell into depression” at the club and was saved by winning the Europa League back on loan at Sevilla.
Estadio Deportivo cover comments from the winger today made in an interview with Post United on YouTube.
Gil has had something of a miserable time at Tottenham since joining them in a €25m move from Sevilla in 2021.
He had been highly rated at Sevilla and in Spain in general but has never found his feet with Tottenham, managing just 43 appearances totalling 1301 minutes to date. He is yet to score and has two assists to his name.
He’s spent most of his time at the club out on loan, first going to Valencia, then back to Sevilla in 2023 before moving to Girona last summer.
His return to Sevilla came in the January transfer window and proved to be a smart one as he was a part of the squad that went on to win the Europa League that season.
It was the second time he’d won it with his boyhood club, and he admits it was extra special, because of the misery he’d been feeling at Tottenham.
“The truth is, the return was very beautiful,” he said.
“For me, it was a dream come true to win a title with Sevilla after six months in London that weren’t very good, after that first year in which I think I practically fell into depression, to see that football rewards you, that you enjoy playing football, it was incredible.
“I didn’t expect it at all because when I arrived, we were in a dangerous situation, and no one expected we would finish the year the way we did.
“I had that lack of motivation from the first six months; I didn’t imagine that’s what being a footballer was all about. I only thought about enjoying myself and always playing, but you have a lot of rough patches that are important to overcome in order to mature.”
In hindsight, joining Tottenham was not the right move for the 24-year-old, who has failed to impress a series of Spurs managers of his worth.
He’s already made it clear that he intends to move on this summer if he can, looking to establish himself somewhere else and get his career back on track.
The move very nearly didn’t happen too, as he revealed that Marseille were close to signing him before Nuno Espirito Santo convinced him on Tottenham.
“It was a rather unexpected signing,” he added.
“The club I had the most advanced talks with, and we had almost everything finalized, was Marseille, but out of the blue, my agent called me and told me about Tottenham.
“I was young, and there were stars like Kane and Son… there. Nuno called me and convinced me. The signing was finalized while I was at the Olympic Games.”
