Bryan Gil 'rejected chance to leave Tottenham Hotspur on loan in January'

Following a breakthrough La Liga season on loan with Eibar in the 2020-21 campaign, Gil was the subject of a £21.4m bid from Tottenham, which parent club Sevilla accepted.

Gil left his homeland at just 20 years of age to embark on a new adventure in North London, but he has failed to live up to his potential under three permanent managers at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium so far.

Under Nuno Espirito Santo, Antonio Conte and Ange Postecoglou, Gil has only recorded two assists in 42 matches in all tournaments for Spurs, making the majority of those appearances as a substitute.

Tottenham have already sent the 22-year-old back to Spain on loan with Valencia and Sevilla, and he came good for the latter in the second half of the 2022-23 campaign, winning the Europa League title and having a direct hand in five goals in 24 games.

Since Postecoglou took the reins in North London, however, Gil has totalled just 221 minutes of football across 11 appearances, and he is still waiting for his first direct goal contribution of the new season.

Dejan Kulusevski, Brennan Johnson and Son Heung-min were already above Gil in the pecking order, and Timo Werner's loan arrival from RB Leipzig led to the expectation that he would be sent elsewhere for the rest of the campaign.

Fiorentina and Real Sociedad were said to have been keen on a loan deal for Gil, whom Fabrizio Romano claims received offers to temporarily leave Tottenham for a third time, but the Spain international turned down such opportunities.

In addition to the two aforementioned clubs, Romano adds that Brighton & Hove Albion and Feyenoord were also keeping tabs on his situation, but negotiations never reach an advanced stage with Gil's representatives.

The winger is under contract with Postecoglou's side for another two-and-a-half seasons, and both club and player are set to reassess his situation in the summer before deciding on his next career move.

Prior to Saturday's 2-2 draw with Everton, where Gil came on as a second-half substitute, Postecoglou told a press conference that he was happy to work with the "fantastic" Spaniard for the second half of the campaign.

"It's not an issue with me. Yeah, there was a bit of interest in Bryan, a bit of interest in a lot of our players, but I've said this before it is not my role to push people out in that kind of situation," Postecoglou said.

"I still very much regard them as our players and Bryan is a fantastic young player. He works so hard to improve every day and this first half of the year he's had a couple of injuries. People shouldn't underestimate that, especially in a set-up like ours where most of the guys who had a strong pre-season are the ones that hit the ground running.

"He missed out on that but he wants to improve, loves the environment and we love having him part of the group. He's still a young player with plenty of time to develop and happy to have him around for this second half of the year."

Tottenham led twice at Goodison Park on Saturday lunchtime through the in-form Richarlison, but Jack Harrison and an injury-time Jarrad Branthwaite header dramatically rescued a point for Everton, and Spurs will drop out of the Premier League's top four if Aston Villa avoid defeat against Sheffield United in the evening kickoff.