It’s pretty clear that Bryan Gil’s Tottenham Hotspur career never got off the ground. The club has been actively trying to ship him out to any place that would have him for the past 2-3 seasons. Maybe this time it will stick? According to an Italian language report in Corriere dello Sport, we have Fabio Paratici to thank for what could be Bryan’s latest, and hopefully last, move away from Spurs.
The report states that Don Fabio personally negotiated a deal in principle with Bologna in Serie A for an initial loan for Bryan with an option to purchase that will turn into an obligation if certain conditions are met. The sticking point are wages — Gil’s only on £33k/wk which is stupid cheap for a Premier League player, but even that’s apparently a little too rich for Bologna’s structure. Corriere dello Sport also says that a representative from Bologna is currently remaining in London to assess Gil and make sure he’s fully healed from a knee injury he sustained while on loan at Girona last season.
But just in case you thought this was too easy, the report also says Bologna is also working on another deal that could take priority over Gil, but they’re keeping the name of that player under wraps.
The Italian media is anything but reliable, but I’ve seen rumors of Paratici negotiating with Bologna for Gil from a number of different sources, so I’d guess that at minimum there’s a nugget or two of truth in here. You may recall that last summer Tottenham extended Gil’s contract at the club as a bet that he’d do well enough to earn a better transfer fee this summer. So far that hasn’t panned out, but there’s always the hope, right?
At this point there’s no way that Spurs are ever going to get their money back on Gil, whom they bought from Sevilla in 2021 for £21.6m plus Erik Lamela. It’s turning out to be among the worse transfers Spurs have made in recent years. I’d guess right now they’d just settle for getting him off their books, however that happens. Maybe a loan-to-buy to Bologna with easy escalators is the ticket to finally doing that. Here’s hoping.