Bryan Gil needs to play football this season but a third playing spell back in Spain seems like a move that is not going to do much for his Tottenham career.
The 21-year-old is one of Spain's brightest young talents but a year on from his big summer of 2021 move to Spurs, he has a sum total of 86 Premier League minutes to his name across nine brief substitute appearances.
It's worth remembering that Barcelona scout German Vaya Ballabriga said of Gil the season before Tottenham snapped him up: "Right now he is Spain's best footballer and I compare him with Neymar. He can do certain things and has great versatility, as he can play at full-back, in the middle or on the left wing. It's impressive. I have spoken with [Barcelona's sporting director] Raman Planes about him and he has Bryan Gil in mind."
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However, it was Spurs who snapped up the talented young Spaniard on a five-year deal for around £22million, with Erik Lamela heading in the opposite direction as managing director of football Fabio Paratici made the then 20-year-old from Sevilla one of his first three signings last summer after joining the club from Juventus.
Gil had got plenty of first team minutes as a teenager for Sevilla but really made his name on loan for a season at Eibar where he was a shining light for the La Liga strugglers with his ability to dribble the ball and create chances. He became only the second player born this century to score twice in the same La Liga game when he netted a couple of goals against Granada.
After joining Spurs, Gil soon made his international debut for Spain, with his national boss Luis Enrique saying: "I like him a lot. From the first talk I have had with him, I see him as very mature and very calm."
Those within Tottenham believed it was a deal they simply couldn't pass up on, one of Spain's brightest emerging talents and one who had proved that he was up for a scrap with Eibar. The player's effort and application was never in question and neither was his skill.
Yet six months later and he was being shipped back to Spain on loan to Valencia with 20 appearances across all competitions, totalling 756 minutes, the equivalent of just eight and a half matches and most of those minutes came in the inaugural Europa Conference League and its qualifiers or the Carabao Cup.
The feeling among those within Tottenham is that Gil is talented and very intelligent, a great trainer and a positive character within the group, but physically he needs to strengthen to handle the rigours of the Premier League. Just to rub in the fact that he was heading back to his homeland so quickly, Antonio Conte all but declared to football.london back in February after he had gone that Gil was not a player suited to the Premier League.
"You know that I like to tell the truth and for sure we’re talking about a really good player in Gil, because he has good quality and he understands football quickly," he said. "In this moment, for sure this league is very tough. This league is different. If you compare this league with other leagues, you play another sport here.
"For this reason when you go to sign a new player, you have to consider many aspects. Not only one aspect, if he shoots well or makes an assist, you have to consider a lot of situations because this league is very difficult. You can be good with quality. You can be a creative player, but at the same time you have to be strong physically. You have to run a lot, to be resilient. The impact of this league is not simple. It's not simple. For this reason, the market, before signing a player, you have to check many aspects and not going on emotional things."
That Conte replaced Gil with the 6ft 1in Dejan Kulusevski and the strong Swede had an instant impact in the Premier League did not help the Spaniard's cause. For his part, Gil admitted that English football was tough for him to adapt to and even though he gained weight it was not enough.
"In the Premier League, training sessions are very physical, very hard, and it has helped me not to notice fatigue now," he said while on loan. "It is very noticeable, really. It is a slightly higher level of intensity. I physically noticed it. The adaptation for me was difficult. It is a very physical football, back and forth. Being there has been good for me. I am more mature. I changed habits like eating, I had a chef at home and I gained two kilos. Even so, I noticed that it was not enough for the physical level that exists in the Premier League."
Gil has worked hard in pre-season and was visibly one of the fittest players as the squad took on those infamous pitch-long runs in the heat and humidity of South Korea after a near two-hour training session. The Spaniard was not among the group of players informed they were not in Conte's plans like this season, a group that included Sergio Reguilon, Harry Winks, Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso.
Instead Conte has named Gil on the bench in all three Premier League matches so far, albeit without using him in the games, and made it very clear to football.london that he is happy with his current squad - which includes Gil - and if the Spaniard does leave in the final days of the window then he must be replaced because he is part of his plans.
Valencia want to take Gil back once again on loan with coach Gennaro Gattuso publicly stating his admiration for the player and the club's desire to get a deal done this week. Early indications so far have not suggested an option to buy, although the final days of the window can often change scenarios depending on who arrives through the door.
That there is currently no suggestion of an option to buy though suggests Tottenham have not yet given up on the talented young Spaniard and feel that he can yet develop. If so, it makes you wonder why a loan back to Spain is the choice being made.
Of course Gil will feel comfortable and he admitted during his January loan to Valencia that his family had wanted him to return, but is another Spanish return the best option for Premier League adaptation?
There is no doubt that he can continue to develop in Spain in his natural environment and playing regularly, but it does him no favours in creating a Premier League ready player. A move to another side in the English top flight or even a loan to the similarly paced and physical Bundesliga would have been more helpful in that respect. It seems unlikely that no Premier League sides showed interest in taking one of Spain's top young talents and if they didn't perhaps that said something about Tottenham's decision to sign him for the English game.
The other option would have simply been to keep him at Tottenham to continue that process, although game time would have been far less. Paratici likes players such as Adama Traore and Daniel James among others as potential replacements and while both are more adapted to the Premier League, neither have showcased the end product during their longer careers to suggest they will be a better long-term replacement for Gil.
The young Spaniard has a higher ceiling for his talent than either the Wolves or Leeds wingers, but Tottenham need to make a decision eventually on him. Do they believe he can realise his potential in north London or will he join the list of those who were not scouted well, barely played in the Premier League and instead impressed back on the continent?
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