Another one out the door! ...Kinda! Tottenham Hotspur today formally announced that Spanish winger Bryan Gil has left the club on loan for the season at Girona.
The release doesn’t say it, but the scuttlebut is that Gil has also signed a one-year contract extension at the club that will technically keep him on as a Spurs player until the end of the 2026-27 season
I wrote earlier about how unusual this deal is, especially for a player whom Spurs have seemed content to try and offload for a couple of seasons now. But it does make sense if you think about it. As part of Gil’s new Tottenham contract, he has had a €15m purchase clause inserted, and Girona has been given priority to trigger it next summer if they desire. If they choose not to exercise Gil’s purchase clause, any other club can trigger it.
So why do this? Well, Gil currently doesn’t have much of a market, and reports have had a lot of clubs bidding in the single figure million euros for a player whom Spurs purchased for Erik Lamela + £25m just a few seasons ago. Gil was a promising young player at Sevilla and now is joining a Girona club on loan that will play in the Champions League this season, so this is a bet that Gil can jump-start his career with a good loan. Extending his Spurs contract means Tottenham have a touch more leverage as Gil would otherwise enter into the last year of his initial contract next summer, and the €15m purchase clause is pretty much stating Spurs’ price for what it would take to sign him permanently.
So it’s more down-the-road can-kicking here, but it really does feel like an upside bet (right up to the point where Bryan barely sees the pitch for Girona next season and we do this all over again next summer).
There are also unconfirmed reports that Gil’s new contract includes a reduction in his weekly wages, which also might make him more appealing to continental clubs in next summer’s transfer window.
Gil, like Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, did not join Spurs on their Asian tour this summer as he looked for further opportunities in the transfer window. And in truth, this does feel like a good opportunity for him to join a hungry club playing Champions League football and re-establish his football bonafides. For everyone’s sake — Gil’s, Tottenham’s, Girona’s — I hope it works out.