Spanish La Liga side Villarreal have confirmed the signing of Argentina international Giovani Lo Celso, who was deemed as surplus to requirements by English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur.
Lo Celso spent last season on loan at the Spanish side and played a huge role in their progress to the semi final of the UEFA Champions League. His return to the club on another season loan deal was made public yesterday.
During the course of his presentation, Villarreal chief executive officer Fernando Negueroles Roig was asked about the chances of the team signing Nigeria international striker Sadiq Umar who has been linked to the club.
Roig confirmed that they had him in their plans at the start of the summer transfer window but his valuation is way out of their budget. He said they are not in anyway close to signing him as widely reported by several media outlets.
“This is a topic that comes from Almeria and we don’t know anything about it here,” Roig said. “We talked about the market at the beginning, but it was an unfeasible operation, and we didn’t do anything else.”
“Right now it is as if they are talking to me about reaching Jupiter.”he concluded.
His statement means Getafe who were the other Spanish team reported to be interested in signing the forward now have a clear run, if their interest is true. Almeria are however not keen on letting him leave unless their valuation of €30m is met.