Bryan Gil ended his spell at Tottenham Hotspur when he left them to join Girona on a permanent transfer on summer deadline day.
Tottenham let the forward spend last season on loan at the La Liga club, but his spell there was cut short due to an injury.
On Tuesday, the Catalan club presented their new signing to the media, and the 24-year-old was accompanied by Girona president Delfí Geli and sporting director, Quique Cárcel.
AS have relayed their comments, and the newspaper points out Tottenham collected €6m plus €4m potential bonuses from Gil’s sale to the Spanish club.
According to Cárcel, the negotiations dragged for long mainly because of Tottenham and hailed the player for not entertaining other offers.
“It’s been a very long summer; we talked about his return from the very beginning. We knew it would be complicated due to the current transfer market,” he said.
“Tottenham had their arguments. He was the key because we spoke to him from the start, and he wanted to return. It’s appreciated that a player who has had many offers was willing to wait for Girona.”
The Spain international has thanked Girona for betting on him as he only wanted to leave Spurs to join them in the summer window. He also addressed claims of the possibility of the Europa League winners terminating his final year of contract.
“I want to thank everyone for the confidence shown and for being here today. I was very clear about coming here and continuing what I did last year. It’s a very important step for me, and I’m happy to sign as a permanent player. We’re all where we want to be. It’s been an important summer, but what I wanted happened, and I’m happy,” Gil explained.
“There was talk of terminating my contract with Tottenham, but they never wanted it. If that had been the case, I would have been here by July, and everyone would have felt more at ease.”
The attacker joined the north London in 2021 and spent two years on loan to Sevilla, Valencia and Girona. During his time at Tottenham, he struggled to impress and had two assists [no goal] from 43 games in all competitions.
Gil is thrilled to have finally left the Premier League club, where he failed to shine.
“The most important thing is to be happy somewhere. Thank God I was very happy and comfortable last year and now being part of this project for the next five years is important,” he added.
“I’ve changed teams a lot; I couldn’t be happy at Tottenham because if you don’t play, you’re not happy, and I’m going to be happy here. It’s important to be happy to be able to perform at the highest level and make it back to the national team.”