Tottenham Hotspur have never been an easy club to negotiate with.
Daniel Levy is a nightmare during transfer talks, and many players who have wanted to leave the club in the past have learnt that the hard way.
Luka Modric once said he ‘resented’ Levy for how difficult he made his move to Real Madrid over a decade ago.
Now, Bryan Gil has shared what happened when he had one foot out the Tottenham door.
Bryan Gil says Tottenham blocked his move to Valencia ‘at the last minute’
Tottenham signed Gil from Sevilla in a deal where they paid £22 million and also sent Erik Lamela the other way (Goal).
The Spaniard was viewed as a big talent at the time, and many people felt that Spurs had landed a gem for the future.
However, Gil’s time at Tottenham hasn’t been great at all.
Gil has been sent out on loan on three occasions by Spurs, the first of which was to Valencia in Spain in January 2022.
The attacker has now revealed that he had ‘packed his bags’ and was ready to return to Valencia in the following summer, and the deal was ’99 per cent done’.
But, Tottenham blocked the move in the end.
He said, as per Super Deporte: “I didn’t decide to stay. In fact, I was going to go to Valencia again for the whole year.
“During the negotiations, they told me it was practically a done deal. Tottenham needed a few days to finalise it, but it was 99 per cent done; they had already spoken with the sporting director.
“But at the last minute, they told me no, that I had to stay. It wasn’t my intention to stay; I wanted to leave, and they didn’t let me. I had my bags packed, 99 per cent sure I was going to leave.”
Bryan Gil’s stats from his last loan spell prove one thing
After blocking his move to Valencia in the summer of 2022, Tottenham sent Gil on loan to Sevilla just six months later, in January 2023.
After half a season there, the attacker joined Girona on loan for the whole of the 2024/25 season, but his numbers there don’t look great at all.
Just seven direct goal contributions in a season, even though he showed flashes of magic at times, is not a great return at all.