Saying Giovani Lo Celso’s career has always been marred by uncertain situations is an understatement. When the Argentine was brought as an understudy for Javier Pastore in PSG, it was speculated that he could well adjust to the team dynamics and no surprise that in 17/18 he managed to make 48 appearances for the Parisians. But it was then that PSG decided to loan him out to Real Betis where he shined well but just as his move was made permanent he embarked on another loan to Tottenham. Following two seasons in a club where managerial situation weren’t helping either, he embarked on his latest loan in 22/23 with Villareal. But no sooner, Lo Celso is back again at North London and linked to yet another move back to Spain, this time to Spanish Giants Barcelona.
Should Ange let him leave?? Should he Persist and hope to unlock the argentine’s usefulness in his system?? Or should Lo Celso try his hand at Barca?? Let’s take a look.
Understanding what makes Lo Celso Tick: His Best phases in career, what worked tactically
Pic 1: At Betis, Giovani Lo Celso was one of the best players in La Liga.
To Map out Giovani Lo Celso’s journey, we may have to step back into the past a bit. It was the 2018/19 season and a 22-year-old Lo Celso arrived on loan at Seville, hoping to make a breakthrough despite playing significant minutes for PSG in 17/18. Under Quique Setién, Lo Celso was an enigma in the halfspaces, who was able to both feed and take chances as an advanced playmaker. Lo Celso’s strong traits came to fore when he played a free role in the side, able to carry the ball across various zones, a 1st indicator that Lo celso’s not the ideal player that can thrive in sides which require higher positional discipline (despite Setien being a strong proponent of positional game, gave Lo celso ample freedom to be the technical leader).
Vid 1: A highlight reel showing Giovani Lo Celso’s role in Betis 18/19 side )
Vid 1 highlights the talking points well: Thriving in a free flowing role not bound by more stricter zones, Lo celso could weave play by interlinking with players around him. That’s fundamentally his strong point, able to assist or score from inside and outside the box.
In a classic 4-2-3-1, Giovani Lo Celso in the hole is a dream player: Effectively weave magic in zone 14 and subsequently offer Box presence to make cutbacks or score. While his Betis days are good evidence of one facet of his game, perhaps we may need to journey 2-3 seasons ahead and look at his Villareal days.
Pic 2: At Villareal, Giovani Lo Celso’s game became more balanced at all fronts
As Lo Celso continued his Loan journey back to Spain again, under Emery – Giovani Lo Celso was much more balanced and when you see both his defensive and offensive actions heatmaps at the bottom pitches of Pic 2, you see a solid B2B (Box to box) profile that was very good at affecting the game at both ends. It was no surprise he was part of a Villareal side that claimed the scalps of Juventus, Bayern Munich and made life difficult for Liverpool in that year’s Champions League.
For Lo Celso, the more we learn about him, the more we realize that continuity in one club and one particular role has what hampered his production. And this isn’t to blame any particular coaches as such but it’s about the timing of his own Loan moves or the environment at the wrong time.
Giovani Lo Celso’s Future: Try his luck under Ange or look for another move??
At 27, Lo Celso should ideally be looking to play as much as possible and be an important member of any squad he is part of. With the advent of physical problems at Spurs, Lo Celso’s found game time well in recent fixtures but there always exists this talk whether Lo Celso will still find a place in the lineup once spurs get back to full strength. While Barcelona represent yet another opportunity to return back to Spain where Lo Celso’s been a known face and fairly successful, one wouldn’t really struggle to connect the dots that if not for Gavi’s injury and other physical problems there, Lo Celso would have just been an afterthought.
But in a personal opinion, Lo Celso is much better in technical terms to add alongside Oriol Romeu and capably rotate with Pedri, Gundogan or De Jong. His readymade experience in La Liga and being a Spanish speaker should help him settle with ease.