Football news - Mauricio Pochettino concerned about Giovani Lo Celso fitness
/dnl.tntsports.co.uk/sd/img/placeholder/tnt_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Updated 24/08/2019 at 12:57 GMT+1
Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino says that new signing Giovani Lo Celso's fitness is "so far away" from the level required to play Premier League football.
Tottenham Hotspur new signing Giovani Lo Celso during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa
Image credit: Getty Images
The Argentine midfielder joined Spurs on deadline day from Real Betis on loan with an option to buy but has only played five minutes of Premier League football so far.
After a summer which involved Copa America duty with his country, Pochettino says getting his countryman in shape will be a tough task.
"Lo Celso is a situation that is not going to be easy," Pochettino said.
"He was in extended holidays after the Copa America, he didn’t have a proper pre-season and didn’t train much. Then signed for us after a week without training.
"He’s training well but is so far away from what we expect from him. We need to give him time and we won’t expect too much from him."
Pochettino also said that Victor Wanyama's chances at Tottenham may be limited and he will not be given "charity" by his bosses.
"I don’t know. To be honest I can’t say something that will or won’t happen," he replied when asked about whether the Kenyan could leave the club.
"Football is not about yesterday. It’s about today and you need to show every day. Victor was injured and others stepped up.
"We are not a charity, not in this case about Victor, but we have a lot of options to play different players and sometimes players are lucky, some are unlucky."
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement