Resurgence. A word synonymous with Tottenham Hotspur and their efforts under manager Ange Postecoglou this season, who arrived last summer following Antonio Conte’s dismissal.
It was a critical juncture for an outfit beset with issues, not least the looming departure of Harry Kane, whose 280 Spurs goals have left him the club’s record scorer and the second-highest goalscorer in Premier League history.
Were Tottenham facing the abyss? Was this the end of a fruitful period of history that saw sustained Champions League campaigns and (unsuccessful) conquests for silverware?
Under Ange and his craggy-faced, straight-talking disposition, the club has been propelled back into the mix for top four and indeed would perch in fourth place were they to win their game in hand.
Ange Postecoglou
Resurgence. Tottenham sure is seeing it and so too are many of its players, with Richarlison, Heung-min Son, Yves Bissouma and Pedro Porro some of the existing stars revitalised by Postecoglou and the exciting new additions.
Not all have risen to the fore, however, with winger Bryan Gil failing to make an impression and surely destined for the door. And that’s sooner rather than later.
What was said when Bryan Gil joined Spurs
Gil, with a distinct Liverpudlian look that belies his Catalonian roots, completed a move to Tottenham from Sevilla for a fee approaching £22m, with Erik Lamela headed in the opposite direction.
We are delighted to announce the signing of Bryan Gil from @SevillaFC! 🇪🇸 Erik Lamela will join the Spanish club as part of the deal. — Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) July 26, 2021
He had enjoyed a promising start to life in La Liga and posted four goals and three assists across 26 top-flight starts during the 2020/21 campaign, on loan at Eibar, also averaging 1.8 key passes, 2.3 dribbles and 5.4 successful duels per game, as per Sofascore.
Joining Tottenham aged just 20 years old, it looked to be a real coup and something of a no-brainer for a rising star wielding all the tools to fashion success at the summit of the Premier League.
Tottenham winger Bryan Gil.
He was brazen, direct and electric, said to boast shades of Jack Grealish and on a pedestal with La Masia’s Pedri and Ansu Fati as Spain’s most coveted prospect, the nation’s most thrilling emergence and a thoroughbred showman.
His gliding gait and fearlessness indeed made him quite the prospect and there was little question that the young Spaniard was endowed with stagging ability.
First Impressions
What did pundits and fans alike think about their new star signing when they arrived? Football FanCast’s ‘First Impressions’ series has everything you need.
On par with Bellingham & Saka in 2021
In fact, Gil was considered one of the brightest prospects in world football, with his name chalked onto the final 20-man shortlist for the 2021 Golden Boy award.
He might have only enjoyed one season earning regular starts in the Spanish top-flight, featuring as a teenager for most of that campaign, but he had made quite the impression, with talent scout Jacek Kulig remarking that he had a “left foot made of pure gold.”
And it was that term of action that bestowed upon Gil a place among some of the world’s finest youngsters in the Golden Boy awards, alongside some salient names such as Bukayo Saka and Jude Bellingham.
While Gil struggles for minutes in Postecoglou’s Tottenham, Saka is the offensive fulcrum of Arsenal’s challenge for silverware in both the Premier League and the Champions League, with 16 goals and 15 assists in all competitions to showcase his brilliance.
Arsenal star Bukayo Saka.
Bellingham… well, what is there to say? If England are to see one of their own raised to the pinnacle of the game as Ballon d’Or winner any time soon, the Birmingham-born midfielder is unquestionably the most likely name.
The 20-year-old joined Real Madrid from Borussia Dortmund in a package which could rise to £115m last summer, opting for the Spanish capital despite a vested interest from Premier League giants Liverpool and Manchester City.
Performing at jaw-dropping heights since joining the planet’s most prestigious football club, Bellingham has plundered 20 goals and nine assists in a Los Blancos shirt, leading Fabrizio Romano to herald him as a “machine” and a “world-class player”, apt praise.
Less than three years ago, Gil, who is now 23 years old, was considered in the same breath, regarded among talents of such a calibre that they would be competing at the peak of football for years to come.
Saka and Bellingham have lived up to the plate, but a move to the Premier League has unravelled the precious threads of Gil’s breakthrough, and he is now languishing on the fringe of Tottenham’s senior set-up.
😊 Jude Victor William Bellingham, at your service. 😊 pic.twitter.com/Llt68PeHf8
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) August 12, 2023
Bryan Gil’s season in numbers
Gil spent the 2022/23 campaign out on loan with Sevilla, and while he has returned to Spurs’ squad this season, journalist Mitch Fretton has claimed that he is “unwanted” by the Lilywhites manager.
Across all competitions, he has played in ten Premier League fixtures this term and come off the bench in the FA Cup third round against Burnley, but he is yet to register a goal contribution and he’s actually only started twice.
One of those matches, against Manchester City, provided a performance of such little promise that pundit Jamie Carragher claimed he “looked like a boy playing in a man’s game” – Postecoglou evidently shared this sentiment and he was hooked at half-time.
As per Sofascore, Gil is only averaging 0.3 key passes, 0.1 tackles and 1.6 ball recoveries per game in the English top-flight, with 0.7 dribbles and 1.1 duels per game really hammering home just how limp and lifeless he has been. Something needs to change, and with the gears shifting under Postecoglou’s leadership it looks like Gil might be left behind.
Bryan Gil in action for Tottenham.
Resurgence. Gil needs to find his feet and he needs to start performing at the level that he was expected to reach when first gracing English shores, the level that he was performing at with Sevilla in his carefree, exuberant maiden days.
Gil needs to pick up the pieces and build himself up, but unfortunately, Tottenham are on the rise and he’s not exactly proving himself under Postecoglou’s wing.
It’s time to draw the curtain on this one; it’s the best move for all involved parties.
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