Tottenham midfielder Giovani Lo Celso has been offered to Atlético Madrid as he looks to secure a move away from Spurs this summer.
That’s according to Estadio Deportivo, who say the Argentine’s future is ‘more open than ever’ following his loan at Villarreal.
Lo Celso joined the Spanish side on loan in the January transfer market when it was made clear that he was not a part of Antonio Conte’s plans at Tottenham.
He quickly established himself as a key player under Una Emery and was arguably the star performer in their run to the Champions League semi-finals.
That loan deal did not include a purchase option, though, and so he has now returned to Tottenham to work out his future.
That is likely to be away from the London club, with Conte not changing his mind on the midfielder and the player also wanting to start afresh somewhere else.
The obvious answer would be Villarreal, but, despite reports they had struck a deal, they’re yet to enter negotiations with Tottenham.
That’s been confirmed by their CEO Fernando Ruig, who recently confirmed to AS what the current stance was.
“We have not negotiated with Tottenham; we have not sat down with them to talk about anything for now,” he said.
“We know that the player is open to continue, but we can’t sit down to talk about an operation like this without any departures.
“What has been said about offers and so on is not true; there have been no negotiations. Neither have they offered us or asked us for anything.
“As I said, it’s a very complicated operation, they spent a lot of money on the player, and it’s not an easy operation. Without departures and with the team we have, we are not in a position to carry out this operation.”
That means Villarreal are currently off the table as an option, and in the interim, it seems Lo Celso is being offered around elsewhere in Spain.
Estadio say he was presented as an option to Atlético Madrid in the last few weeks, but there has been no progress on that potential operation as yet.
It does, though, open up ‘another possibility’ for the midfielder to continue in Spain, which he would be happy to do after spells with Real Betis and Villarreal.
