Ange Postecoglou has indicated that it is not just Giovani Lo Celso who has had to contend with a lack of sustained minutes for Tottenham this season. Remaining with the club in the summer after previously spending 18 months on loan with Villarreal in Spain, the Argentina international initially struggled for pitch time earlier in the campaign but his minutes soon increased following a bad run of injuries in November.
Handed starts in the games against Aston Villa and Man City, Lo Celso excelled for the Lilywhites and deservedly got goals to his name in both fixtures. Injury, as it has done throughout his Tottenham career, has restricted his playing time since then, as has the return of James Maddison through injury.
Some Tottenham fans have called to see more of Lo Celso in recent weeks, especially after a strong cameo off the bench against Luton Town and with the likes of Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski struggling to find their top form at present. Having only come on for the final minute at West Ham on Tuesday evening despite Spurs needing to push for a late winner, the player will have his fingers crossed that more playing time comes his way in their remaining eight league fixtures.
Even though Lo Celso may not have received the amount of minutes he wanted this season, Postecoglou believes that the midfielder has still contributed to the team and that is "the most important thing" for him. However, he has said that someone else will play that role next season if it isn't to be Lo Celso.
"It is not just him," said Postecoglou in his pre-match press conference when asked by football.london. "There has been a few in that boat where they just haven't had a real good run in terms of there has been injury disruptions and other times when he has been fit, other players have played in his position, but I still think Gio's been good for us this year.
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"Through that middle patch when we had a lot of injuries, he really stood up for us and then got his own injury of course. He made a real impact against Luton at the weekend and it really helped us get over the line.
"Look, he's a fantastic player, but with all these things you've got to keep the perspective that we're at a big club, we're going to have a big squad and if it is not Gio, it will be someone else that will play that role next year. No one will play every game. It doesn't happen. It doesn't happen at all the big clubs, so I am never really worried about the game time players are playing.
"If they want more game time, there are other clubs where they can do that and I'm looking at contribution. With someone like Gio, like I said he has contributed to us this year and that's been the most important thing for me."
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