Perhaps disappointingly, we haven’t seen as much of Bryan Gil in the Premier League as we would have liked. But, nonetheless, with substantial minutes in the Europa Conference League under his belt, there is plenty to be optimistic about.
I hadn’t seen any of the Spaniard before he signed for Spurs, but my early assessment is that Gil appears to be a rough diamond.
What impresses me most, is that he plays without fear, and isn’t afraid to make mistakes, in the same vein as Lucas Moura. Both of these players would rather run with the ball and lose it, than shirk responsibility.
He needs to work on his strength, as he can often be muscled off the ball, but I’m sure that this will come with increased game-time and some graft in the gym.
The 20-year-old hasn’t yet been trusted in the Premier League under Nuno Espirito Santo, which has left many, including myself, bemused for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, and quite obviously, the team has hardly pulled up trees this season. We’ve looked flat, and to be frank, lacking in desire during most games this season, so the enthusiasm and drive of Gil would most certainly be welcome.
The introduction of the Spaniard would also alert many of the first team, who may feel that their place in the starting eleven is cemented, no matter how they perform.
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The second reason why he should be given minutes, which appears to occur all too often at Tottenham, is that young talent isn’t given enough opportunity in and around the first team to grow in confidence and experience.
One need only look at the sale of Juan Foyth to Villarreal and Marcus Edwards to Vitoria to see players who appear to have slipped through the net, and are now thriving away from the club.
Most recently, the decisions made by Nuno against Mura really rubbed me up the wrong way. He, of course, started with a youthful team, playing Bryan Gil and Dane Scarlett amongst other fringe players.
In my book, these two players had pretty decent games, but were dragged off when our lead was halved at the beginning of the second half.
This was nothing more than a panic move, and rather than persist with the players on the pitch, the manager wanted a quick fix.
Moves like this will never breed confidence in these young players. And I would argue that, given Bryan Gil has already made four appearances for the Spanish national team, including in the Nations League semi-final, he is most certainly ready for a run at club level.
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