Giovani Lo Celso has opened up on his difficult season with Tottenham, hampered by injuries and a lack of regular game time in North London.
The Argentine missed a total of 22 games for Tottenham in the middle of the season, damaging any chances of him getting up to speed in the Premier League.
Therefore, Spurs fans were not treated to the midfield talent that won over so many people in the second half of last season.
Lo Celso did, however, receive a run of games towards the end of the campaign when Ryan Mason took charge, edging Tanguy Ndombele out of the starting XI. Unfortunately, these performances left a lot to be desired in the heart of the Tottenham midfield.
In the end, he managed 28 appearances for Spurs across all competitions this season, scoring five goals and registering just one assist (TransferMarkt).
The Argentine spoke this week about his difficulties across the season, including those injury problems.
He said (Football London): “You kind of have to weigh up the situation and, if you balance it all out with the good and the not so good, it’s been a bit… I guess it’s always going to be a little bit strange and a bit different when you come to a new league and a new country.
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“You have to get used to certain things – a new club, a new league, a new language, a different style of football but throughout all that, you always try to give it your best.
“In terms of the day-to-day, life is of course a bit strange for all of us at the moment. We are going through a delicate and difficult situation with the pandemic and everything.
“I got to know London a bit before the pandemic and it is clearly a lovely city and a great place to live and work but looking at it from a football perspective, I feel very much at ease.
“From the very moment I arrived at the club, I was given a very warm welcome by everyone. We have a great set of players here and everyone gets on well with each other.
“Language-wise, it’s great trying to put your English to good use, mixing with all the different nationalities and the English players included, of course.
“I can understand most things, my comprehension is pretty good but, obviously, it can be a bit of a challenge trying to express myself. I do my best though, I’m having a go, so it’s going pretty well.”
On playing under three different managers at Spurs already, Lo Celso said: “I suppose what has made my time here a little bit strange so far though is when I came here, Mauricio Pochettino was our manager and then, within three months, I was playing under a new coach.
“Obviously, throughout any managerial change, you are always giving it your best, and now we’ve had another change of manager, so that all makes things a bit, well the word in Spanish is ‘extrano’ – a bit strange – but, as professionals, you get on with it.
“I think overall, I have tried my best and given my best to try to show what I can do over these two seasons. So, in balance, it’s been positive.”
On his recent injuries and Tottenham’s season, he added: “All players want to play, and we all want to be doing our bit to help the team out there on the field, so when you’re out injured for any length of time and can just watch on, it is hugely frustrating.
“You want to be doing your best for the lads, it’s tough to just watch on. It’s a very tough blow to take. All you can do during that period is focus on getting yourself fit, your recovery period and work really hard to get back as soon as you possibly can.”
“We all know that we had a great start to the season and then we were top of the league in December, but then I think the Liverpool away fixture was quite a key turning point. We were a bit unlucky in that game and it didn’t turn out well for us as we lost.
“After then, we had one or two results go against us, we were a bit unlucky. Sometimes we did not perform at our best and, in the meantime, not had the best of results.”
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