Lo Celso at heart of Tottenham rebuild following permanent transfer

"He's playing very well, very well." In the wake of Tottenham's 1-1 draw at Southampton in the FA Cup, Spurs boss Jose Mourinho was full of praise for Giovani Lo Celso. It's been a difficult few months for Lo Celso. Having joined on deadline day, he picked up an injury on international duty shortly after his arrival in north London. 

It meant that, after his cameo showing off the bench in the North London Derby at the start of September, he didn't make another club appearance until the 5-0 home win over FK Crvena Zvezda towards the end of October, and then he didn't start a Spurs match until the 4-0 win in Serbia in November. 

Later that month, compatriot Mauricio Pochettino was relieved of his duties. Pochettino was eager to bring Lo Celso to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, yet barely had the opportunity to use him. When Mourinho took over the reins in the captial, few expected the Argentina international to register a look in, this despite Christian Eriksen's reluctance to pen a new deal at the club prior to his departure for Inter this week. 

Yet, Saturday's FA Cup fourth round stalemate marked the 23-year-old's fourth successive start. Of the eight matches Lo Celso has featured in from the get go, six of come in his last eight appearances as the younster begins to showcase his immense talent to the watching world. Spurs had the chance to make his loan move permanent for £27m this month and the general consensus was that they would take up the option as and when Eriksen's move to Inter was confirmed, which proved true on Tuesday, with Lo Celso penning a deal until 2025.  

It'll be a deserving transfer for a player who has shown he is more than capable of providing the link between the midfield and attack. Indeed, Saturday saw Lo Celso put in yet another solid performance, returning a WhoScored rating of 7.58 in the process. He may have failed to have a direct hand in a goal, but it wasn't for want of trying as Lo Celso had two shots and created one chance. The on-loan attacker was difficult to stop when he broke forward, completing four of five dribbles, and was prepared to get stuck in for the good of the team as he made six tackles. 

His driving run for Son Heung-Min's goal was a prime example of Lo Celso's approach as he shrugged off pressure before driving forward from deep, with all four of his dribbles in that match coming from the passage of play. It was the desire to drop into the defensive third in search of possession that will have sat well with Spurs supporters, with the team lacking a player prepared to go in search of the ball rather than wait for the midfield to be bypassed and the ball thumped long. 

However, Lo Celso's emergence as a key player in Mourinho's XI affords Spurs an additional option in midfield and an alternative approach to goal. Save for Eriksen, the team struggled without a midfieler willing to simply collect the ball off the defence or the deeper lying performers and it saw Spurs sacrifice possession far too easily, particularly once Harry Kane sustained his hamstring injury on New Year's Day. 

Crucially is that Lo Celso is able to play a number of roles to Spurs' benefit. Boasting statistically calculated WhoScored strengths of 'passing', 'dribbling' and 'tackling', Mourinho can use the player in a more defensive role to help drive the team forward or from out wide to provide additional protection for Serge Aurier as and when the Ivorian bombards forward in his new right-back-winger hybrid role. 

He may be an option on the right, but Wednesday's confirmation of Steven Bergwijn's arrival from PSV allows for Lo Celso to firmly focus on developing into the glue that knits Spurs together in the middle of the park. And with commendable averages of 2.1 dribbles, 1.7 key passes and 3.1 tackles per 90 in the Premier League this season, he is a hugely talented weapon for Mourinho to call upon. Obviously, he is not a like-for-like replacement for Eriksen, given the Dane's penchant for prying apart opposition defences and the calming demeanour with which he does so, but Lo Celso's thunderous approach affords Mourinho some key versatility in, without fellow summer arrival Tanguy Ndombele, a fairly one dimensional midfield. 

With Lo Celso now establishing himself as a key player in his Spurs side, though, the team's midfield should improve immeasurably. Given his injury issues and the managerial uncertainity in the early months of the season, the Argentine could have sought a January move away to earn greater playing time in a less toxic environment. 

Yet Lo Celso dug deep and has earned his spot in Mourinho's first choice XI and as a number 8 or a number 10, he is very much the ideal player to link Spurs together from front to back. Bring in a new striker before the deadline to accompany the capture of Bergwijn and the club looks far better equipped to get their top four push back on track and, with Mourinho at the helm, launch a sustained assault for a long-awaited trophy.

And as Spurs gear up for Sunday's welcome of Manchester City, Lo Celso promises to be a key man in a rebuild that has been required for the best part of 18 months in north London. Ndombele may have been the headline signing of the summer, yet it's Lo Celso, who is becoming an increasingly vital cog in this Spurs machine, that needs to be the central figure in this side as the club ushers in a new era, perhaps signalled best, not in Pochettino's exit, but rather Eriksen's move to Inter this week.